In Search of Bluer Tongues: Participatory Community Film Scene
A special one-day pop-up presented by Tempest Gallery
Hosted by RRASP
In Search of Bluer Tongues: Participatory Community Film Scene
Saturday, April 11 | 2–5 PM
Rockella Space – One Eyed Studios
Studio 180 (Entrance via Weirfield St)
1642 Weirfield St, Queens
RRASP is pleased to support In Search of Bluer Tongues: Participatory Community Film Scene, a one-day pop-up presented by Tempest Gallery and led by artist Zelikha Zohra Shoja.
Tempest Gallery presents this participatory film event, supported by RRASP through free studio space and hosted at Rockella Space.
Taking place at Rockella Space’s One Eyed Studios, this project reflects RRASP’s commitment to making space—both physically and programmatically—for artists to realize experimental, process-driven work.
Making Space for Participation
At the center of Shoja’s project is a simple, repeatable gesture: participants are invited to stick out their tongues, stained blue with candy, as part of an ongoing film.
Through a series of short screen tests staged against fabric backdrops, the work unfolds as a collective act of image-making—one that is open, accessible, and rooted in participation.
Visitors are encouraged to drop in, take part, and contribute to the work, whether for a few minutes or the full duration of the event.
Memory, Ritual, and Collective Experience
In Search of Bluer Tongues explores memory, nostalgia, and childhood ritual through a shared visual language.
Shoja’s practice is deeply informed by migration and diaspora, inviting participants to consider how personal and collective histories are carried, performed, and transmitted. The project creates space for these reflections to emerge through gesture—subtle, playful, and emotionally resonant.
All are welcome to participate, including families, elders, children, and anyone who feels connected to these themes.
Why RRASP is Supporting This Work
RRASP exists to support artists by removing barriers to production and presentation. By offering access to space, we aim to enable projects that might not otherwise have the resources to take shape—particularly those that are experimental, community-oriented, or time-based.
This project embodies that mission: it is lightweight in form but expansive in its reach, relying on participation, trust, and shared presence rather than traditional exhibition structures.
No RSVP needed—just drop in.
💙
About the Artist
Zelikha Zohra Shoja is a U.S.-based Afghan artist, researcher, and غمخوار / gham-khoor (“grief eater”), living and working on unceded Onondaga land (Syracuse, New York).
Working across film, photography, writing, and performance, her practice engages with ecologies of interdependence, collective myth-making, and the transmission of memory. Drawing from her academic background in migration and diaspora, Shoja creates work that considers how shared experiences are transferred, mirrored, and felt across bodies and time.
Her work has been presented internationally at institutions including Friche la Belle de Mai (Marseille), Goethe-Institut (Almaty & Tashkent), Kunsthalle Exnergasse (Vienna), Millennium Film Workshop (New York), and more.
She is a recipient of the 2026 Light Work Urban Video Project Regional Experimental Media Commission and a 2024–25 Fulbright U.S. Student Award, supporting her ongoing creative research.
About Tempest Gallery
At Tempest Gallery, we want to talk about art in a maelstrom. We invite artists to be unafraid to broach difficult conversations and address colonial structures of violence through their practice in textiles, sculpture, and installation. Our main desire is that each monthly show present layered themes where multiple cultural references intersect and tussle.
Launched in 2024, Tempest Gallery is located at Rockella Space’s One Eyed Studios in Ridgewood, Queens. Through our programming and events, we aim to create community and a space for gathering, presenting work and building relationships.
Please visit us at 1642 Weirfield Street, Ridgewood Queens, NY, during our regular gallery hours Wednesday-Saturday, 1-6pm.
We are open to scheduled visits outside of regular hours, please direct message us on instagram