EJ Hill's new endurance performance, "Yearning for an Absolute" (2025), is on view at 52 Walker in Tribeca through September 13, 2025. For the duration of the exhibition, the 40-year-old Black queer artist kneels every day, all day, within a red velvet enclosure, referencing Catholic devotional practices, saintly mortifications, and his own history of durational works like "Excellentia, Mollitia, Victoria" (2018) at the Hammer Museum's "Made in LA" biennial. The installation also includes red leather kneelers for sale, framed kneeler pad paintings marked with the artist's indentations, and a neon rectangle reminiscent of Dan Flavin's church installation.
This review matters because it situates Hill's practice at the intersection of personal history, religious ritual, and political protest, drawing connections between kneeling in Catholic liturgy, Colin Kaepernick's anthem protests, and Tibetan self-immolations. The piece marks Hill's first endurance project in seven years and continues his exploration of bodily prostration as a means of reclaiming space and addressing systemic exclusion. The review also highlights how the work engages viewers in a contemplative, almost confessional encounter with the artist's presence.