THE EROTIC PROJECT is inclusive + accessible eroticism as self care for our collective healing. THE EROTIC PROJECT includes a multitude of diverse creative contributors featured in the SOFT erotic publication, FEEL erotic prompt card deck, free accompanying audio book, + the short film SOFT HARD SLOW, produced by Aubrié Costello.

“For over 10 years, I have worked as a visual artist + creative director on multimedia collaborations. My work intersects fiber art, fashion, photography, film, music, performance art, literary art, + community care. I'm the creator of THE EROTIC PROJECT, an ongoing inclusive, accessible, trauma-informed collaborative erotic art project exploring identity expression + slow pleasure practice as mutual care for our collective healing. I am curating + co-creating original work with over 40 established + emerging artists from Philadelphia PA, Los Angeles CA, Portland OR, Puerto Rico, + Mexico City MX. Together, we're thoughtfully developing + mindfully creating literary resources, sensory experiences, + community events for all.

THE EROTIC PROJECT creates intimate opportunities + considered spaces to be fully seen as one is now + to see one another with the utmost care, respect, attentiveness, + dignity. Our work centers BIPOC LGBTQIA2S+ voices. We believe that having space to express oneself + reimagine the power of self care should not be a luxury. Through listening to our community’s needs + desires, we are mindfully creating safe spaces together to reconnect, make art, express, + explore.

Project offerings include our ongoing short film series + Shorts Screening Programs, a free 23 minute FEEL Teaser Audiobook, the SOFT Book, the forthcoming FEEL Card Deck/expanded Audiobook, + other tangibles. We've just launched a podcast available on most streaming platforms, revealed an exciting public art project during Design Philadelphia 2022, + we currently have a robust experiential exhibition which surveys three years of collaborative multimedia work made since 2020 at the renown cultural institution Asian Arts Initiative now through July 2023.” -Aubrié

WE ARE THE EROTIC PROJECT

Ursula Rucker・Alicia DeLarge・Amina El Kabbany・Vernon Jordan III ・Che Che Luna・Eileen Tran・Taylor Galloway・Luna Maye・Arien Wilkerson・OwlRare・Monique Ruffin・John Dionisio・Jess Noel・Mia Moretti・Dáe Lee・Raquel Salas Rivera・Allis Chang・Fatima Adamu-Goode・Symone Salib・Candy Alexandra González・Shanina Dionna・Numa Perrier・Frankie Shaw・Kingsley Ibeneche・AnnonXL / SILAH・Lendl Tellington・Brae Howard・Rosie Simmons・Keiko El・Moon Johnson・Keylah Mellon・Tyler Borchardt・KkCo・Kara Jubin・Nick Vicente・maximiliano・Cheyenne Gil・Guillermo Cassar・Alan Aldana・Lou Badger・Ayinde Kwaku Purnell + MORE

AUBRIÉ COSTELLO is a visual artist, director, writer, and curator of multimedia collaborations in Philadelphia, PA. Their collaborative projects amalgamate photography, film, original music, literature, performance art, and community care. They explore, depict and celebrate their creative collaborators’ unique experiences through varied media. They are co-creating artful resources and safe spaces for their community members to rediscover vulnerability, express themselves fully, and be seen with dignity. They chronicle the often unseen, intimate moments, and nuanced emotions experienced within our most personal relationships with self and others. The intention behind their work is to create experiences which encourage community engagement, interaction, self reflection, self love, and thoughtful collaboration.

Their work centers BIPOC AAPI LGBTQIA2S+ narratives.

Costello’s oeuvre is rooted in accessible, large-scale text-based fiber art installations in public spaces. As a visual artist, Costello creates tangible fiber art objects and costumes featuring poignant silk graffiti text which reflects and conveys a particular, often shared, moment in time. The objects exist as props for performers to wear and interact with, then transform into curios which they later repurpose, reconfigure, and reutilize in site-specific installations and live experiences.

Costello has expanded into the roles of creative director and film director, envisioning and producing multidisciplinary work, specifically film, performance, and literary projects. They invite creative contributors to infuse their craft(s) and perspective(s) into each collaboration. These works across art forms center the robust, vital, resonating queer stories of their collaborators, and further contextualize the silk words by investigating the meaning and impact of the text on the body.

Costello's work explores the tension between what’s kept private versus what’s shared publicly and investigates how, when our private emotions are revealed in safe spaces with care, transparency, and without shame, opportunities to more deeply understand ourselves, one another, and our interconnectedness present themselves. These understandings could yield mindful, holistic consideration and collective mutual care, resulting in a more honest, equitable, and abundant society. Costello's work surveys softness as resistance and softness as protest of the internalized hardening and desensitization we continue to learn and exhibit. Their work is an offering to explore the value and transformative power of vulnerability, softness, gentleness, and eroticism beyond just the sexual, and how each can act as a conduit for our collective healing from the consistent harm and trauma we’re navigating.

Costello has exhibited their work extensively in Philadelphia and abroad, most notably at Asian Arts Initiative, City Hall, Fairmount Water Works, Philadelphia International Airport, International House University of Pennsylvania, Chemical Heritage Foundation (now Science History Institute), Moore College of Art & Design, Main Line Arts Center, Bucks County Community College Hicks Art Center Gallery, The James Oliver Gallery, Projects Gallery, in politically and socially charged exhibitions Truth To Power, Into Action and WE RISE in Philadelphia & Los Angeles. Costello was a co-organizer of the 2017 citywide public art project, Signs Of Solidarity, and is a co-founder of anonymous public art curatorial collective Group X. Costello's work was featured in all 10 episodes of SMILF S2 on Showtime. Their self-published SOFT Book is currently on view + stocked at Ulises in Philadelphia.

CONNECT:

ilysm@theeroticproject.com