How Tiffany Pollard Built the Internet Second Edition Release Party

Join us on December 10th from 6-9PM at the Painted Bride Project Space to celebrate the release of the second edition of Qiaira Riley's zine How Tiffany Pollard Built the Internet: Representations of Simulacra, Virtuality & Black Femme Identity on the Internet and its Art. This second edition, printed by the Arts League and Thickly Settled Press, features new binding, a redesign, and an updated page of text. A short number of copies of this remixed edition will be sold at the release party. This free and public event will also include lite bites and refreshments, as well as a tech-inspired set from Foxy Nora, followed by a short presentation and conversation discussing themes explored in the zine.

Initially released in 2021, this work argues that the internet is a hyperreality, inherently warped by the distortion of any colonized space, but also a home that holds the potential to transcend the oppressions of our in real life (IRL) bodies. In this piece Tiffany Pollard acts as a stand in for generations of Black women and femmes who simultaneously represent the internet’s potential for oppression and liberation.This work introduces the various ways artists utilize the digital realm to present the experiences of their real world bodies, digital subconscious, and hopes for the future. The limited-run first edition was collected by many, including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Joan Flasch Artists' Book Collection.