INVASIVE SPECIES 2 Opening

INVASIVE SPECIES 2 The invasion is spreading… Exhibition Dates: October 9th - October 31st 2026 Opening Reception: Friday, October 9th, 7-10 pm Location: The Future Front House, 1900 E 12th St, Austin, TX 78702 Literary Panel Discussion, Reading and Open Mic: Saturday, October 17th, 7-9 pm Location: The Future Front House, 1900 E 12th St, Austin, TX 78702 Feminist Horror Screenings: October 12th - October 16th Location: Hyperreal Film Club, 301 Chicon St Suite A, Austin, TX 78702 About the project: INVASIVE SPECIES 2 is a multidisciplinary exhibition and series of programming, curated and led by Alexis Hunter. The exhibition features nine women-identifying artists whose practices explore the many contradictions, complexities, and lived experiences of womanhood. The exhibition brings together perspectives shaped by immigration and displacement, motherhood, estrangement, race and queerness, disability and survival, femininity and beauty, ecology, healing, transformation, and utopian possibilities of the future. An invasive species is not inherently invasive. Its designation depends on where it is, how it arrives, and what it changes. In an ecosystem shaped by male-dominated systems, women have long been treated as outsiders, disruptions, or threats when entering spaces that were not built for them. In a 2019 study of 18 major U.S. art museums, only 12.6% of the artists represented in their collections were women. INVASIVE SPECIES 2 asks what happens when those so-called disruptions take root, adapt, and change the ecosystem around them. Who gets to decide what belongs? Who gets to decide what is invasive? And what new ways of life might emerge when the boundaries of an ecosystem begin to shift? The original INVASIVE SPECIES was curated by Hunter and Jacqueline Overby in 2023. What began as a group exhibition has grown into a network of more than 25 women artists, writers, filmmakers, and cultural workers across Central and Southeast Texas and beyond. For its second edition, INVASIVE SPECIES establishes new territory beyond the gallery through film, literature, performance, and community programming throughout Austin. Featuring works by: Vy Ngo, Virginia L. Montgomery, Tiffany Katarina Smith, Kate Biel, Kate Gonda, Kemi Yemi-Ese, Christine Garvey, Lovie Olivia, and Alexis Hunter. This project is supported in part by an Elevate Grant of Austin Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment. Warning: These Invasive Species have been identified as posing an immediate threat to men’s economy, environment, and well-being. If you encounter any of these species in a male-dominated ecosystem, please do NOT resist the invasion. It is inevitable, and resistance is futile. About the curator: Alexis Hunter is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, and educator based in Austin, Texas. She earned her BFA in Studio Art from Texas State University in 2022. Her work explores identity, the body, and belonging through a range of artistic and participatory practices. Hunter was named Austin Chronicle’s Best Visual Artist of 2023, and her curatorial project INVASIVE SPECIES was recognized by Glasstire as one of the Top 5 exhibitions to see in Texas. She can be found painting in her studio, splashing around with her Swim Club at Barton Springs, or hosting events like Big Bad Karaoke: BIGGER AND BADDER in Texas alongside Future Front Texas’ founding director, Jane Claire Hervey, as a part of Fusebox Festival.