PRESENTATION:Everyone you’re looking at is also you:-Artists for the Ali Forney Center
In a vital convergence of contemporary art, civic responsibility, and human rights advocacy, David Zwirner presents “Everyone you’re looking at is also you: Artists for the Ali Forney Center”. Organized in close collaboration with curator and art advisor Stephen Truax, this selling exhibition represents the gallery’s second consecutive benefit dedicated to supporting the Ali Forney Center, an organization providing lifesaving housing, healthcare, and sanctuary to unhoused LGBTQ+ youth
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: David Zwirner Archive
By mobilizing a vibrant cross-section of today’s leading artists, the exhibition “Everyone you’re looking at is also you: Artists for the Ali Forney Center” presents leverages the creative community’s momentum to confront an escalating crisis of systemic neglect and federal funding cuts facing vulnerable young people.
To understand the core mission of the Ali Forney Center is to understand the life and legacy of its namesake. Founded in 2002, the center honors Ali Forney, a gender-nonconforming youth who entered the homeless system at a very young age after being rejected by their family. Despite experiencing severe hardship and housing instability on the streets of New York, Forney stood out as a beacon of resilience, advocacy, and unconditional compassion. They worked tirelessly as a peer educator, distributing information about HIV prevention, advocating for safer environments, and demanding public attention for the forgotten struggles of unhoused queer youth.
Tragically, in December 1997, Forney was murdered in Harlem at the age of 22. Their death sent shockwaves through the community, highlighting the profound dangers facing trans and queer youth abandoned by social safety nets. In the wake of this tragedy, advocates came together to ensure Forney’s voice would not be silenced, establishing a dedicated shelter named in their honor to provide the safety, dignity, and care that Forney fought so fiercely to secure for others.
What began in 2002 as a humble initiative with just six beds in a church basement has grown over the past two decades into a nationally recognized model of holistic care. Today, the Ali Forney Center is an indispensable part of New York’s social infrastructure, operating multiple transitional and emergency housing sites across the city. At the heart of its daily operations is a 24-hour drop-in center, which offers immediate access to hot meals, warm showers, clean clothing, primary medical treatment, and crisis mental health counseling.
Beyond meeting emergency survival needs, the center invests heavily in long-term independence. Comprehensive programs provide substance use counseling, life-skills training, educational resources, and job readiness mentorship specifically tailored to transgender and gender-nonconforming youth. Major philanthropic support and key partnerships have expanded this vision, most notably through the Bea Arthur Residence, a transitional housing facility made possible by a generous legacy gift from the late actress. Each year, the Ali Forney Center provides tens of thousands of meals and healthcare visits, empowering young people to rebuild their self-worth and navigate a pathway toward stable, independent futures.
This exhibition marks the fourth annual fundraiser organized by a growing coalition of artists and cultural leaders dedicated to sustaining the center’s mission. The initiative originally took root in 2023, when painter Doron Langberg organized a benefit sale at Sotheby’s, rallying a close network of artist friends to donate works. Building on that momentum in 2024, Langberg entrusted the organization of the sale to Stephen Truax, who partnered with David Zwirner in 2025 to bring the presentation to the gallery’s space on 19th Street.
The impact of these exhibitions has been profound. The 2025 benefit, titled “Toward the Light: Artists for the Ali Forney Center,” raised nearly $1 million. Those proceeds directly enabled the center to onboard forty-five new, permanent beds for homeless LGBTQ+ youth across New York City. This grass-roots art financial pipeline has become increasingly vital as social service organizations across the nation grapple with significant reductions in federal funding.
The exhibition derives its title from a resonant line spoken by author and civil rights icon James Baldwin in the 1970 Terence Dixon documentary “Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris”. In the film, Baldwin reflects on human connection and the shared responsibility we bear toward one another in public space.
“Walk down the street of any city, any afternoon, and look around you. What you’ve got to remember is what you’re looking at is also you. Everyone you’re looking at is also you. You could be that person.”
Baldwin’s words serve as both a moral foundation and a philosophical blueprint for the exhibition. Rather than treating unhoused youth as abstract statistics or distant figures, Baldwin insists on absolute recognition—that every stranger encountered on a city sidewalk carries a life as precious and fragile as our own. By grounding the gallery presentation in this ethos, Everyone you’re looking at is also you transforms artistic patronage into a direct act of community solidarity, reminding viewers that protecting the most vulnerable among us is essential to honoring our shared humanity.
Works by: Marina Adams. Leonard Baby, Huma Bhabha, Nicholas Bierk, Dike Blair, Ross Bleckner, Matt Bollinger, Katherine Bradford, Patrick Carroll, Vicky Colombet, Ann Craven, Anthony Cudahy, Kyle De Lotto, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Marlene Dumas, Louis Fratino, Ricardo Fumanal, Elizabeth Glaessner, Phoebe Helander, Christopher K. Ho, Jenny Holzer, Elizabeth Jaeger, Scott Kahn, Field Kallop, Toba Khedoori, Timothy Lai, Doron Langberg, Ian Lewandowski, Glenn Ligon, Nate Lowman, Kylie Manning, Rebecca Manson, Gordon Matta-Clark, Shota Nakamura, Liz Nielsen, Eli Ping, Celeste Rapone, Julia Rommel, Carol Saft, Peter Saul, Ilana Savdie, Peter Shear, Jay Stern, Sarah Sze, Wolfgang Tillmans
Photo: Jenny Holzer, Survival: Someone else’s body is a place…Survival: Someone else’s body is a place…, 1984, Text on cast aluminum plaque, 3 x 10 x 1/4 inches (7.6 x 25.4 x 0.6 cm), Edition of 10, Initialed and numbered verso, Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner Gallery
Info: David Zwirner Gallery, 525 West 19th Street, New York, NY, USA, Duration: 29/9-10/10/2026, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.davidzwirner.com/
Right: Marina Adams, 16x12_260, 2024, Gouache on Arches Aquarelle paper, 16 1/8 x 12 1/8 inches (41 x 30.8 cm), Initialed and dated recto; signed, titled, dated, and inscribed verso, Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner Gallery
Right: Ricardo Fumanal , Untitled (blue shorts), 2026, Oil on canvas, 39 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches (100.3 x 80 cm), Signed, titled, and dated verso, Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner Gallery
Right: Rebecca Manson, Common Buckeye, 2026, Porcelain, glaze, canvas, adhesive, thread, hardware, and pigment, 62 x 40 x 6 inches (157.5 x 101.6 x 15.2 cm), Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner Gallery
Right: Glenn Ligon, Study for Blue (for JB) #18, 2026, Carbon, graphite, and acrylic on Kozo paper, 13 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches (34.3 x 26.7 cm), Framed: 16 3/4 x 13 3/4 inches (42.5 x 34.9 cm), Signed, titled, and dated verso, Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner Gallery
