Be Oakley
b.1991
MFA. VCU 2018
BFA. MIAD 2014
View CV


Be Oakley is an writer, facilitator and publisher based in the Ridgewood neighorhood of Queens, NYC.In 2015 they started GenderFail. Oakley’s publications can be found in collection at The Museum of Modern Art Library, The Met Library Special Collections, The Whitney Museum Library, over 50 others.  In 2022 they recieved a Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Grant for their work with GenderFail. 

Oakley has been apart of exhibitions, programs and events The Studio Museum in Harlem (Radical Reading Room, 2019), Williams College Museum of Art (Queer Zines, 2019), MoMA PS1 (Past and Future Fictions, 2018), The International Center of Photography (Queering the Collection, 2018), Excess and Refusal (Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, 2021), Imperfect Archiving, Archiving as Practice (Center for Book Arts, 2021) and many others. Our work has been featured in Italian Vogue (January 2020), The Baffler (No.56 The Counterpublic Option, March 2021), Eye on Design (Three Publishers Get Real About Independent Publishing), and many others.



Online:

Fifth State #410 Fall 2021, Rich Dana (Ricardo Feral), In the World of Digital, Print Raises A Challenge

Eye on Design, November 4th, 2021, Somnath Bhatt Three Publishers Get Real About Independent Publishing: What does it take to make indie publishing work?

Echo Gone Wrong, August 2021, Photo reportage from the exhibition "Excess and Refusal' ay EKKM

Missy Magaine, Decloonising design: https://missy-magazine.de/blog/2021/05/10/sichtbar-machen/

Le Monde, June 2021,Par Isabelle Mayault: Typographes, graphistes, artistes… Ces « hacktivistes » qui inventent une langue sans féminin ni masculin

LAMPOON, January 2021, Elena Caslini: Ulises, Philadelphia. Ideas for a democratization of curatorial practice

Brooklyn Rail, March 2020, Megan N. Liberty: Printed Matter

Hyperallergic, January, 2020, Hakim Bishara: Brooklyn’s A.I.R Gallery to Launch Its First Feminist and Queer Art Book Fair

OutTV, December 2019, Josh Signler : OUTTV's 19 BEST READS OF 2019

Recess Art, November 2019. Tavia Nyong'o: JUST OUT OF HAND, JUST OUT OF REACH

Igloo, October 2019: Lay Me Down Across the Lines - a new exhibition at Kunsthalle Bega

C& Contemporary And, November 2019, Mia Harrison: lay me down across the lines Invisible Connections of Feminism

Sixty Inches From Center, November 2019, Tamara Becerra Valdez: Inga: Spacemaking Through and Around Books

Printed Matter, September 2019, Loraine Furter: Copy This Table

Art In America, August 2019, Kerry Doran: Identity Binge: How Lex Brown Makes Television

The Cornell Daily Sun, March 2019, Isabel Ling: LING | The Dangers of Binaries

Popdust, June 2019 Sara Nuta: Countering the Whitewashing of Pride: NYC Honors Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera

Williamsrecord, February 2019, Wilson Lam: “Queer Zines” workshop celebrates queer creativity, love in all forms

Eye on Design, January 2019, Shea Fitzpatrick: The Queer Zine Library in Hong Kong That’s Finding a Global Community

Eye on Design, January 2019, Meg Miller: What Does “Queering Design Education” Actually Look Like in Practice?

Hyperallergic, September 2018, Deena ElGenaidi: A Preview of Printed Matter’s Annual NY Art Book Fair, Featuring 73 First-Time Exhibitors

The Commonwealth Times, January 2018, Georgia Geen : Panel displays perspectives on Richmond publishing projects

Sixty Inches From Center, November 2017, Annette LePique: El Sol Sale Para Todxs: A Conversation with Galia Basail

The Daily Beast, September 2017, Lyne Lucien: Gorgeous LGBTQ Photography at the NY Art Book Fair

Media Milwaukee, March 2016, Mike Holloway: The World of Zines

Wikipedia: GenderFail



Podcast

Papercut Podcast, May 2018, Christopher Kardambikis: GenderFail at Washington Center for the Arts

Bad at Sports, Janurary 2019, Episode 670: Chicago Artist Book Fair


In Print

The Baffler No.56 The Counterpublic Option, March 2021, Say Their Name

C Magazine: Issue 147, October 2020, Cason Sharpe: Consciousness: Lex Brown

Conde Nest Traveler, April 2020, CNT Editors: New York, Our Favorite New Yorkers on the Best Things in All Five Boroughs

Vogue Italia January 2020, Pg. 54, Laura Taccari: Failure E Un Po' Rinascere

Eye on Design: Issue 3, Pg.62-63, Nathan Ma: History Made in The