In conjunction with their solo exhibition in Gallery Two, This is as far as I can take you, Smack Mellon presents a performance-driven presentation by the artist, Sunny Leerasanthanah. As a performance, Contain Yourself narrates the process of creating a live and living archive while interweaving stories linked to the themes and contents of the exhibition. Using storytelling, projected images, time, text, and documentation, Sunny meanders through topics including accidental archiving, amateur camcording, fixations on ghosts, and how to convince the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of an urgent event.

Sunny Leerasanthanah (b. Bangkok, Thailand) is a multidisciplinary artist living in Brooklyn, New York. Sunny observes and documents impressions and boundaries of place, time, loss, identification, and belonging. They have worked across film, video installation, photography, books, archives, roleplay, prompts, and conversation.In 2023, Sunny presented their first institutional solo exhibition, Sunny Leerasanthanah: Naturalization at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center (WI). They are a recipient of the Artists Alliance Inc. LES Studio Program (2024), Center for Book Arts Residency (2023), Image Text Workshop Residency (2023), Fire Island Artist Residency (2022), Queens Council on the Arts New Work Grant (2021), Rehearsal Residency (2018), and Ithaca College’s James B. Pendleton Grant (2015). They have exhibited at SculptureCenter (NY), Lubov (Projects) (NY), Local Project Art Space (NY), and Handwerker Gallery (NY), amongst other spaces. Their book Mom’s Magnets (2020) is in the collection of Asia Art Archive in America (NY) and Fathom Library (RI). They have spoken in panel discussions including at Candice Madey Gallery (NY), Soho Photo Gallery (NY), Queer | Art (virtual), and Asian American Arts Alliance (virtual). Sunny received an MA from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a BFA in from Ithaca College.