Angel Hubris: Shepherd Bells In Ballaban

November 25 - January 03,2025

From ICOSA Collective:

"ICOSA Collective is proud to present Shepherd Bells In Ballaban by multi-disciplinary Albanian-American artist, Angel Hubris.

Angel Hubris, aka Bimbi, is a multi-disciplinary Albanian-American artist living in Brooklyn, NY/Lenapehoking. They work with photo, sound, video, sculpture, performance, and text, exploring belonging/displacement, identity, violence, gender/sexuality, the body politic, mysticism/occultism, dis/ability and disobedience. Shepherd Bells in Ballaban is the sonic backdrop of DOG//GOD, first released as a radio segment with Montez Press Radio in October 2023. It is soon to be published as a photobook and horror story. You can find their essays and poetry in Petit Mort, Currant Jam, SHOTA, and Layout Magazine. From 2020-2022, they were Co-Founder and Project Lead of Slavers of NY, a guerilla education project exposing the legacy of racism and slavery in NYC. They also work as a qualitative researcher and educator in public health.

From the artist:

I tell my friends in New York that I’m going to Church when I travel to rural Albania. The bells worn by the sheep and goats ring melodically through the mountains and fields while I walk through an olive grove, drink fresh, cold water from a spout on the side of a trail, and kick up smells of sage, rosemary, thyme, and chamomile. It is a spiritual experience.

The shepherds dress their flocks with the bells so that the sheep and goats can warn each other, the dogs, and their shepherds of an approaching threat, usually a wolf. If the bells start ringing quickly and chaotically, the dogs know to go into attack mode. This is not the whole story, however. This is the romanticized version. While the echo of the bells permeates throughout the mountains, protecting the cute goats and silly sheep, they are also a harbinger of danger. The dogs view humans as a threat, too, and sometimes turn vicious towards people. If you hear the bells, it is advised to group together and collect big sticks and rocks just in case the dogs are feeling feisty. But, right now, you can enjoy this village music safely.

My intention for this sonic piece is to generate a gentle moment where the listener can daydream and ponder other possibilities. In many cultures, bells are used in ritual to clear the mind and space, and allow the divine to enter. These bells come from a rural, bucolic context, and to some degree represent a pre-industrial era. Before the systematic slaughter of meat manufacturing and the widespread destruction of land, herds traversed terrain releasing delightful music. People had a symbiotic relationship with the animals and land that provided them with food and livelihood. I want this work to help us remember that.

Angel Hubris / Shepherd Bells In Ballaban

Exhibition Dates: Nov 25, 2024 - Jan 3, 2025

Gallery Hours: Work activated from sunset to sunrise each day"

ICOSA Collective 916 Springdale Rd, Bldg 2, #10
Austin, Texas 78702
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