SamLevi
Middleton-Sizemore.
queer and trans. artist and writer. disabled and creating. teacher and organzier. always growing and making.
There is an inherent spirituality to the body, intimate touch, learning and loving the truest forms of yourself. Girlhood and years of church attendance is not antithetical to the artist’s queerness. These formative experiences didn’t limit or define what they would go on to make, but spiritually divined that they would be a maker. SamLevi's work is heavily influenced by the historical and cultural iconography of religion being juxtaposed by ideas of sexuality, gender, and disability justice. In making this art, they have become their own God. Their work also engages with queer and disabled joy as their queer, trans, disabled bodymind is a wonderous thing. The work spiritualizes this body, this variation, this thing made in the image of God. Highly informed and in conversation with gender/sexuality and disability studies, they often incorporate found text into the visual, do lots of historical and literary research before beginning any project, and are a huge fan of the public domain and archives.
SamLevi (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist, community organizer, educator, and communicator. They currently work for the Moravian Church Southern Province as Communications Coordinator. They are a loving best friend to two sweet tabby kitties named Creeper and Warden. The three of them live in Greensboro, North Carolina. However, SamLevi frequently travels around the state and into Virginia for art festivals and shows. SamLevi attended college at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated with highest honors in English (Creative Non Fiction) and Studio Art. Wanting to forever be grounded in the NC Triangle, SamLevi founded "Chboro" Zine Fest in 2024. To learn more about Chboro Zine Fest please visit:
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Queer War / If I Die
CMYK silkscreen printed on paper | 9x12 inches | 2022
Image description: Halftone screen print. The print has text in the background that is largely covered up but which reads in part QUEER WAR: DO WE WANT A WAR? sourced from the zine Freaky Queers. Covering the text is Keith Haring’s “Unfinished Painting” (1987). In the midground is David Wojnarowicz in a jacket painted with a pink triangle and text reading IF I DIE OF AIDS - FORGET BURIAL - JUST DROP MY BODY ON THE STEPS OF THE FDA. In the foreground, ACT UP protest photo featuring signs that read READ OUR LIPS 11400 DEAD, WE DEMAND HEALTHCARE NOW, HOW MANY MORE MUST DIE, and ACCESS FOR ALL TO AIDS DRUG TRIALS.
how strange the moon seems / for Oscar
two color screen print based on Oscar Wilde's play Salome, and the opening lines of said play "how strange the moon seems." 2022
Power to the People
relief carving and Franklin Gothic Extra Condensed wood type and Century Gothic metal type, printed on a Vandercook SP15. 2022. Text from Bruce Mao's Incomplete Manifesto.
Sky/Grass
handset wooden type and ornaments printed on a Vandercook SP15. 2022
T4T
relief carving, cloister text No.95J in 18 and 14 pt font, printed on a Vandercook SP15. 2022.
The Changes Coming / Are Due To Last (diptych)
ink on photopolymer plate letterpress printed speckled french paper | 9x12 each | 2022
Text thanks to Mom, Adrienne Rich's "Change of World," and pharmaceutical labels. Photos thanks to Grandma. Printed on a Vandercook SP15.
Constrained Pochoirs 2021
Digital Portraits commissioned between 2020-2022
Future Shelf 2019, Looking Back 2019, Moo-Moo 2023, Refuse & Resist! / for Keith 2023
Walking Home 2023
A Radical Queer ABC Book 2021
available to view at Duke's Rubenstein Library
That Way Ford 2021
based on This Way Brouwn by Stanley Brouwn (1935-2017)
Pierrot and the Moon 2021
Wild Pocketbook of Coloring (Repurposed) 2021
Crumby Prayers was a collaborative project with Rev. Brian Dixon to create visually engaging images to share online from his previously shared thoughtful, poignant, and exceptionally short prayers first posted on twitter/X
credit for Chboro logo goes to Christopher Williams (@plasticflamepress), all other aspects of flyer designed by me
