Hammer Projects: Jordan Strafer
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New York-based artist and filmmaker Jordan Strafer’s (b. 1990, Miami) LOOPHOLE (2023) and DECADENCE (2024) are the first two chapters of a planned trilogy of videos set against the backdrop of a fictionalized high-profile rape trial in 1990s-era Florida. Pulling from the genre of erotic thrillers and televised court cases from the period, the project hinges upon the speculative love affair between the lead defense attorney and the jury foreman responsible for an unnamed rapist’s acquittal. Using both film scripts and publicly sourced courtroom documents, the videos are influenced in part by the artist’s mother’s role in the legal defense team in a rape trial that took place in 1991. This Hammer Project is the artist’s first solo exhibition in Los Angeles.
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![A man leans over a woman on the witness stand, as if about to kiss her. A tear appears on the woman's cheek.]()
Jordan Strafer, still from LOOPHOLE, 2023Single-channel video, color, sound. 24:36 min. Courtesy of the artist. -
![Close-up of blond White woman sitting in a jury box]()
Jordan Strafer, still from LOOPHOLE, 2023Single-channel video, color, sound. 24:36 min. Courtesy of the artist. -
![A gloved hand holds an evidence bag holding a pair of pruning shears]()
Jordan Strafer, still from LOOPHOLE, 2023Single-channel video, color, sound. 24:36 min. Courtesy of the artist. -
![A blond, White woman sits on the witness stand, speaking into a microphone]()
Jordan Strafer, still from LOOPHOLE, 2023Single-channel video, color, sound. 24:36 min. Courtesy of the artist. -
![A man stands in front of microphones, while a woman looks at him from the background]()
Jordan Strafer, still from LOOPHOLE, 2023Single-channel video, color, sound. 24:36 min. Courtesy of the artist. -
![A dark room with vertical blinds on the window, a table with coffee on it, and a potted plant]()
Jordan Strafer, production still from LOOPHOLE, 2023Photo: Alan Martin Segal
Hammer Projects: Jordan Strafer is organized by Aram Moshayedi, interim chief curator, with Nyah Ginwright, curatorial assistant. DECADENCE was co-commissioned by The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago and The Vega Foundation. Hammer Projects: Jordan Strafer is presented in conjunction with a related project at The Renaissance Society, May 4–July 7, 2024.