Xenology: Drawing in Response to Octavia Butlers Dawn was a group drawing project that brought together drawings from 25 artists tasked with reading the novel Dawn (1987) and imagining, via drawing, what Butler describes as the 'alienness, difference, literal unearthliness' of the Oankali beings.
The project was intended as a way to encourage our communities to read Butler's novel and to interrogate the ways in which language and images relate and inform each other, especially in relationship to conceptions of radical difference or unknownness, often understood or categorized as 'the foreign' or 'the other.'
The drawings that constitute Xenology were exhibited in Seattle as part of the 2014 Wild Seed Ceremony, a celebration of Octavia Butler's life and work, and compiled into a limited print-run catalogue.
Images (top to bottom)
1. Sue Shon, Descent of Man, 2012, inkjet print and graphite on paper 2 parts, each 8 x 5 inches
2. Jean Shon, Sensory, 2012, graphite on paper 10 x 7 inches
3. Melinda Kiefer, Oankali, 2012, ink and white-out on paper, 15 x 11 inches
4. Elizabeth Karp, Horror and Beauty (Portraits of Kaalnikanjl oo Jdahyatediinkahguyaht aj Dinso “Nikanj”), 2012, ink, graphite, and newspaper on board 9 1⁄2 x 12 inches
5. Ellen Chen, Untitled, 2012, ink and crayon on paper, 11 x 8 1/2 inches
6. KimyiBo, Oankali, 2012, pigments, Soy emulsion, and Korean ink on paper, 10 x 8 inches