Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo) at Balice Hertling

Shannon Boswell
Taylor Casey (May you be found alive) Pauly Likens
Liara Kaylee Tsai
Darri Moore
Tayy Dior Thomas
Michelle Henry
Starr Brown
Kita Bee
Sasha Williams
Andrea Doria Dos Passos
River Nevaeh Goddard
África Parrilla García
Diamond Brigman
Meraxes Medina
Ashia Davis
Alex Franco
Reyna Hernandez Summer Betts-Ramsey Righteous Torrence “Chevy” Hill
Nex Benedict
Acey Morrison
Kitty Monroe
Jesús Ociel Baena
Samantha Gómez Fonseca
Miriam Nohemí Rios
Gaby Otiz
Ivonne
Amber Minor
Meghan Lewis

“Trigger Warning” is the third solo exhibition by Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro-Kuriki-Olivo) at Balice Hertling. The exhibition composed of set design elements from the TGNC Resilience Gala and Awards, held in March 2023 at Performance Space New York. This gala highlighted the fragilities of trans/non-binary/two spirit lives, as well as the disparities in life expectancy they face. Intended as a tribute to the members of this community, the gala aimed to “give black trans women their flowers while they’re still alive”. Throughout the evening, awards were presented to community leaders such as Tahtianna Candy Fermin (Bridges4Life), Lexii Foxx (Stop Killing Us) and Qween Jean (Black Trans Liberation). A cascade of roses adorned the stage, hosted by Dani Davis with Lexii Foxx, Kaiya, Kammy-Rae, Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo) and Alethia Rael, the collaborators and sisters behind the gala. Part protest, part celebration and part commemoration, the gala integrated elements of ballroom, performance and visual art, culminating in a multi-disciplinary group show entitled “Transcendence”.\

The gallery’s windows are invested with memorials to disappeared trans women: St. Cecilia Gentilli (American activist who died in 2024), Sasha Washington (American artist and activist who died in 2024) and Géraldine (French sex worker who was murdered in July 2024). At the entrance to the gallery, there is a photo backdrop made of fake roses and flowers, illuminated with spotlights, where you can have your photo taken as if on a red carpet. The names of trans women and trans people who have been unalived in the USA, France, Mexico and the UK are displayed on the gallery walls in black capital letters. Roses are installed everywhere on the ceiling of the gallery as if they were floating in the room, and smoke machines produce fog throughout the gallery space and perfume diffusers disperse the smell of roses in the gallery space. \

In the basement of the gallery are presented two videos, one documentary by Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kurki Olivo) and another made by the American artist Ryan McGinley, which was shot during the TGNC gala. The room in the basement also features wall works made from rose-like fabric, which was used during the TGNC Resilience Gala and Awards in New York, as well as a long table covered with the same fabric where a banquet will be held at the end of the exhibition.\

The artificial roses, the wall of flowers and the rose-like fabrics with traces of candle wax are all elements from Performance Space’s gala that Puppies Puppies reused in this exhibition. However this installation sdoes not reiterate the previous event, but explores its themes through a new conceptual prism, highlighting both the artist’s long-term artistic and social commitment. \

On September 1st, a series of performances by Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo), Lexii A. Foxx and Alethia I. Rael (A.ï.R), will take place next to the gallery space, at Tango, a well-known Parisian LGBTQIA+ venue since 1997.\

Balice Hertling would like to specially thank Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo), Lexii A.Foxx, Alethia I.Rael (A.ï.R), Ryan McGinley and Perfomance Space New York for making this exhibition possible. \

If you would like to make a donation to any of the organizations that support the trans/non-binary/two spirit lives community, we would be very happy to provide you with further information upon request.

Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo) (born 1989, Dallas, USA) works across sculpture, installation, and performance art to sharply address personal and political concerns. In 2019, Interview Magazine published a conversation with the artist, where she publicly revealed her identity for the first time, coming out as a “Latinx transgender woman.”\

Her work is part of this year’s Venice Biennial, curated by Adriano Pedrosa. Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo) presents two sculptures, one at the Carlo Scarpa Garden of the Giardini, and another at Arsenale; the artist also produced three performances which took place during the opening days and activated the pieces. A Sculpture for Trans Women… (2023), initially unveiled as part of this the 2023 Parcours section at Art Basel, is a life-size bronze statue, in the tradition of classical sculpture, taken from a 3-D scan of the artist’s naked body. Emblazoned with the word “WOMAN”, the work subverts the power of monuments to make visible and celebrates trans life in an act of protest and commemoration. The sculpture has been described as the first ever public sculpture depicting a nude trans woman. “Trans women are erased, murdered, arrested and exiled every day,” Kuriki-Olivo said in an interview. “When you look at trans history you see so many blank spots which can only be recovered through storytelling. In this context, my continued existence is revolutionary, and I need to be hyper-present in the world. It is important for me to have this sculpture in the public sphere’’. The other sculpture, that is presented in the Arsenale location of the Venice Biennial is Electric Dress (Atsuko Tanaka) (2023). It pays tribute to those killed in 2016 at the mass shooting that took place during a “Latin Night” party at Pulse, a queer nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The sculpture references Atsuko Tanaka’s Electric Dress (1956) with LED lights that flicker to the pulse of a heartbeat and lights that cycle through the rainbow colors found in the Progress Pride Flag. Both of these sculptures honor queer and trans life while confronting oblivion and invisibility\

Her latest solo show took place in 2024 at New Museum, New York. For the duration of the exhibition, “Nothing New,” Puppies Puppies transformed the Museum’s Lobby Gallery into a mise-en-scène for her daily activities, with a portion of the space functioning as a duplicate of the artist’s actual bedroom. If Kuriki-Olivo’s past work centered around a refusal to be seen—through the use of proxies, avatars, and performances in absentia—“Nothing New” explored new registers of transparency and obfuscation. Inviting visitors to experience her life as if through a screen, Puppies Puppies used a fogging glass mechanism to mediate access to her activities while she inhabited the museum, foregrounding themes of visibility, representation, and cultural consumption.\

Her 2019 solo show at Remai Modern in Saskatoon, Canada was formed around the artist’s family connections and influences, what it means to share and give blood, and what blood may carry or transmit.The exhibition displayed a bag of the artist’s own blood, as well as providing on-site HIV testing and blood donation services to visitors. The works combined the intensely personal with the anonymous and uniform, considering containment, circulation and the fluidity of self.\

Her 2017 work Liberté (Liberty), was the first and only work of performance art to be acquired by the Whitney Museum of American Art for its permanent collection. \

Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo) was born in Dallas in 1989, Dallas, USA. She currently lives and works in New York, USA. Recent solo exhibition were hold at: New Museum New York, USA (2023); Performance Space, New York, USA (2022); MOCA Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus, CH (2021); Galerie Balice Hertling, Paris, FR (2019); Halle für Kunst, Lüneburg, DE (2018). Group exhibitions took place at Fondazione Prada, Venice, IT (2021); Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, DE (2019); Kölnischer Kunstverein, Köln, DE (2019); Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, DE (2019); Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, CH (2017); MACRO, Roma, IT (2017); Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum, New York, USA (2017); Berlin Biennale, Berlin, DE (2016). \

In 2024, Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo)’s work was part of the 60th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy as well as XX Yokohama Triennial, Japan.