Shayna Nys Dambrot
LA Weekly
June 9, 2011

Everything I Say Is a Lie
By Shana Nys Dambrot

In conjunction with Morono Kiang Gallery’s current show, Our Writers Group presents It’s All True — a collection of very new writing inspired by the exhibition of the same name. Featuring Ruben Ortiz-Torres, Martin Healy, Larissa Sansour and Xin Yunpeng, the exhibition declares that not only beauty but truth is in the eye of the beholder, depicting a variety of possible relationships to reality. On June 11, the writers respond with alternate factualities of their own.

Sansour’s video A Space Exodus deftly conflates the conspiracy-addled moon landing with wry commentary on the Palestinian situation; conceptual videographer Yunpeng explores East-West contradictions in contemporary Chinese society; Healy uses UFO sightings to interrogate lucidity; and Ortiz-Torres offers haunting and absurd black-and-white photographs documenting what he calls “future ancient ruins,” in The Past Is Not What It Used to Be. During the June 11 event, Ortiz-Torres reads from his new book, Only the Truth, The Truthful Story of Camelia la Tejana. Our Writers Group features contemporary authors with an interest in “engaging with other artists from other mediums, exploring the same themes and phenomena presented in the visual.” This vibrant, witty exhibition makes the perfect backdrop for a night of public fiction.