...to take root among the stars brings together eleven California-based artists with works that consider the relationships between humanity on Earth and in the cosmos. Can considering the universe mean anything other than expansion? Can considering the universe mean anything other than the abandonment of earth?
Photograms by Kija Lucas and Vanessa Marsh construct a terrestrial visuality of skies and constellations through a cameraless process that utilizes earthly materials, accessing a collective visual imaginary of space. Alice Wang and tamara suarez porras use archival photographs of space that consider how the hand and body can physically interact with the celestial. Further notions of the body as it exists in relation to land and space are present in Dionne Lee’s video utilizing layers of collected imagery, Becca Imrich’s backlit photographs of skin overlaid with radar maps, and Amy Lange’s textiles evocative of topography yet crocheted by hand. Sculptural gestures with paper by Lindsay Tunkl and Amy Tavern consider proximity, at once felt and imagined, across time, space, and sky. The possibilities of existing ephemera are explored in works by Vivian Sming and Aspen Mays: Sming from Emmanuel Levinas’ Totality and Infinity and Mays from a collection of astronomical photographs found in Chile’s National Observatory.
The exhibition, curated by tamara suarez porras, draws its title and framework from Octavia Butler’s novel Parable of the Sower, which raises questions of how humans might envision their impact in the present when forming visions of the future.
Artists
Becca Imrich
Kija Lucas
Dionne Lee
Vanessa Marsh
Aspen Mays
Vivian Sming
tamara suarez porras
Amy Tavern
Lindsay Tunkl
Alice Wang
Curated by tamara suarez porras