Public sex
Nailah Otunba & Jillian Wendel: Public Sex
December 31, 2025
The Shed Show proudly presents Public Sex, a one-night-only "quickie" pop-up duo exhibition showcasing the work of Denton-based artists Nailah Otunba and Jillian Wendel.
In their first-ever collaborative artistic project, new roommates, Otunba and Wendel, circumnavigate concepts of sex, identity, and freedom through visual displays of explicit and obscene content in stained glass, photography, found objects, and installation.
"Good sex is an act of mutual aid." According to Slingshot Collective's Organizers and other lovers, bold enough to claim what we all know to be true. Good sex is empowering when you strip away the veneer of shame wrapped in its context.
In a place like Texas, with its increasingly harmful legislation surrounding the lives and autonomy of Trans and queer folks, immigrants, people of color, and sex and arts workers, among others, it is time to refresh the regional palette on sex with an exhibition boldly fighting censorship.
Let's talk about sex and share in our mutual vulnerability within safe spaces enveloped in a community of love. Communication is key.
As roommates, quartered in an intimate two-bed, one-bath abode, Otunba and Wendel quickly bonded over their shared interest in the arts and unreserved conversations around sex positivity.
Inspired by the abundant and generative arts communities across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Otunba and Wendel are proud to contribute to the legacy of grassroots, DIY, artist-run project spaces. Thank you to those of the past, present, and future for courageously putting your hearts forward through your visual practices.
Furthermore, DJ Temporance, our resident spinster, will accompany the opening of Public Sex with their sexiest musical curations and a magical set once the clock strikes midnight.
Jillian Wendel and Nailah Otunba
Sam Sequeira and Nailah Otunba
Lovely guests in attendance
Exterior Shed Show shot
Nailah Otunba
You Make Me, 2025
Cut ‘Wet Paint’ construction tape, thread
Nailah Otunba
You Make Me, 2025
Cut ‘Wet Paint’ construction tape, thread
Nailah Otunba
Public, 2025
Cut glass, copper foil, lead came, stained wood frame, chain
Nailah Otunba
Sex, 2025
Cut glass, copper foil, lead came, stained wood frame, chain
Nailah Otunba,
Pillow Princess, 2025
Mattress, plastic wrap, broken glass
Nailah Otunba
Cum Visit II, 2025
Cut mirrors, copper foil, chain
“What if i lay on my side?” Public sex performance stills
performed by Nailah Otunba and Sam Sequeira
what if i lay on my side? a performance write up by jillian wendel
What if I lay on my side?
An utterance in ecstasy, what if I lay on my side? is a vulnerable act of public intimacy, and one that the performer and artist, Nailah Otunba is not foreign to. As a figure model, for the last three years, Otunba has offered their body and form as subject to dozens of students; their image repeated through the hands of many.
In what if I lay on my side? Otunba, donning a red latex microkini, lurks towards a shed illuminated by fractures of light cast off glass and plastic. They approach a yellowing full size mattress bound by cling film. Splayed atop the plush and glistening surface rests a plentitude of glass shards with mirrored surfaces.
To the right of the mattress is a two-dimensional mirrored double-ended fisting toy hanging from a closed door on the north wall of the shed. On the west wall, the words ‘public’ and ‘sex’ hang outside the windows donning red, white, and black stained glass joined by copper foil and lead came.
Bending over, Otunba crawls onto the mattress, lying on their side. The length of their body creates a serpentine ‘S’ shape. Preparing for the endurance of the pose, they settle into the cold, sharp, sticky comfort of the surface beneath them.
Along comes Otunba’s boyfriend, Sam Sequeira, strolling toward the entry of the shed, carrying a barstool. Sequeira pulls a sketchbook out of their coat pocket and begins sketching Otunba. An audience begins to approach and surround them. There is a stir of interaction, a moment of confusion, and a realization of the performance taking place.
Otunba is signaled by a colleague that their pose has ended; seamlessly and uninterrupted they peel off the mattress. As they ascend to a more vertical angle, jagged glass sticks to their skin, not entirely puncturing and penetrating the flesh but adhered by oils and sweat.
Sequeira approaches Otunba with a lint roller and delicately removes the microscopic glass glittering their skin. They are encumbered with minor cuts on their thighs and feet. The blood matches their shoes and thong and even the artwork surrounding them. A small sample of blood remains on a single mirrored shard, a biological archive of the moment.
What if I lay on my side? is a live monument of the artist. It is a reflection of their work in every facet and fixture. A model embedded in their medium.
Don’t Forget to lock the door!
My current body of work centers on the navigation of transitional spaces—both physical and psychological. This semester, I delved into how new environments are formed through the residue of the past, exploring how memory, aspiration, and daily life intertwine to shape the spaces we occupy. At the heart of this exploration is the china cabinet: a fixture traditionally situated in seldom-used dining rooms, often doubling as a symbol of prestige and curated domesticity.
In my work, the china cabinet becomes a metaphor for inherited ideals and the slow erosion of their meaning over time. Originally acquired as a status symbol, my version of the cabinet has evolved into a vessel for storing the mundane. Its contents—meant to resemble fine china—are intentionally crude, with chipped edges, cracks, and rough surfaces. These flawed replicas echo the imperfections in our attempts to project order, accomplishment, and permanence.
As the viewer’s gaze moves downward through the cabinet, the illusion of refinement continues to unravel. Odd and misplaced objects clutter the lower shelves—each one placed with the fleeting intention of later organization, which never comes to pass. Dust settles in the gaps, marking the passage of time and the quiet resignation to disorder. This accumulation mirrors the subconscious clutter that builds when one struggles to maintain appearances while grappling with internal doubts.
This piece is, ultimately, an intimate investigation into the experience of imposter syndrome—the feeling of being misaligned with one’s perceived identity or success. Through the tactile language of domestic space and inherited forms, I question the weight of expectation and the quiet, chaotic truth that lies beneath polished surfaces.
China Case
Found China case, glazed porcelain, oil paint, cinder blocks, concrete, electric cords, found lace table runner
2025
Cyanotype Flag
found rusty pipe, cyanotype on cotton, fishing line
2025
Memories to keep me warm
4x6 photographs, jump rings, cotton, poly fill, found mattress
2025
I Am Completely Unqualified to Build a House
image transfer, cyanotype and ceramic on fence post fragment
2025
stick house
concrete and found sticks
2025
My Father’s Headstone
photo transfer on brick
2025
The Flowers I got for you
image transfer on found PVC and fresh cut flowers
2025
Help Yourself!
Family photographs, personal notes and letters on fridge
2025
Don’t Forget to Lock the Door posters, 2025
I am well, I am Whole.
This piece was born out of a desire to move from object based making into the installation realm. I challenged myself to make a project with no fabrication requirements so the entire piece hinges on the way it was installed. I used natural material because I wanted to created a fragmented forest space indoors. For this, the obvious choice was tree branches, dirt and leaves. Originally, this piece didn’t have meaning, but once I began installing, it became about the tension between two different chapters in life, the liminal space created there, as well as the ability to see something materializing that is not fully rendered yet. The process was long and arduous. Originally, I had help installing, but once I was alone, it became a private performance of spirituality and communication with the subconscious. The dirt on the walls was applied in a dance wherein I reflected on my journey through school thus far, plagued by issues that caused me to have to leave school several times to focus on my health. I am occupying the tense space between this era and the next, very much dragging myself toward the finish line, and watching the next era materialize.
This piece explores the idea of creating your own space for yourself. I was inspired by 2 photographs, one was taken by me this summer. It features some stick structures I found on a beach in Italy. It was interesting to see those structures, new and fragile, alongside all the ancient architecture in Venice. The second photograph was taken by my father, it is a view of the framework of the house we moved to when my family came to Texas, construction material strewn about. I thought about my father immigrating to this country and building this life from the ground up. I’m thinking a lot lately about how as a young adult I am building my life, and I am a pattern repeating those who came before me, over and over and over.
