Book Launch, Ryan James Caruthers

We were elated to host the launch of I THOUGHT THAT I WOULD BE IN HEAVEN BUT I AM ONLY UP A TREE by Ryan James Caruthers at our LA gallery.⁣

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Featuring an essay by Ocean Vuong and published by Forma Editions, April 2024.
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In I THOUGHT THAT I WOULD BE IN HEAVEN BUT I AM ONLY UP A TREE, Ryan James Caruthers recounts his time spent in the forest as a child, escaping the societal challenges related to his identity. Despite feeling the unnaturalness imposed upon his young queer body, he found comfort in nature.⁣⁣⁣
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Nature itself is queer — a realm of alterity that speaks in a mysterious language of light, wind, and rain.⁣⁣⁣
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Caruthers endeavours to rediscover himself within the California landscape, aiming to conjure moments from his adolescence and reconnect with his origins. Inspired by Caspar David Friedrich’s painting “The Monk by the Sea,” his search for self among the trees evokes an intimate connection akin to that of lovers, reflecting his desire to surrender to an unpredictable force.⁣⁣⁣