As the world confronts the multiple pandemics of COVID-19, rampant late-stage capitalism, racist underpinnings of governmental systems, and environmental collapse, the American “promise”—one that for many never even existed—recedes from view. In a catastrophic moment in human history, the artistic works that resonate the most are ones that do not shy away but lean into the concept of active discomfort. Artistic strategies of bodily and social discomfort act out the anxiety, fear, dread, and disconnect of this time, yet also create space for processing, healing, and perhaps even a hope that exists in challenging a dysfunctional society.
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Each artist in this exhibition uses a sense of unease or relentless analysis to interact with viewers: pushing boundaries and often forcing a moment of catharsis or introspection. Sheida Soleimani’s photographic tableaus mine the history of Iran through a global lens, confronting viewers with their own complicity in the geo-political landscape. Qualeasha Wood produces tapestries that simultaneously function as internet memes, self-portraits, and unveilings of institutional racism. Camilo Godoy’s multifarious practice is represented as both sculpture that calls out the ruthless system of student loan debt, and a series that questions the effectiveness and ethics of the US political system. Jennifer Ling Datchuk’s subtle and effective use of craft materials maps the reality of navigating life in a world laced with misogyny and racism, while Jonathan Allen stages interventions that lead the common citizen to question if they have done enough to care for their world and their fellow compatriot.
Strategies of resistance are not new, but in this moment take on a renewed and heightened tone. The works and artists in this exhibition confront the greed and tyranny ravaging mental, physical, governmental, and planetary health. In refusing complacency perhaps we pose more questions than we answer, chief among them: have we lost all compassion? In our current dystopian reality, who gets to live freely, able to make choices about their own bodies, able to vote without harassment, able to exist outside an exploitative economic system, able walk into a public space without the specter of violence? As I ponder this, artistic strategies that seek out discomfort counterintuitively provide me, and I hope you, with a space to process, learn, and build anew.
Christie Mitchell, guest curator
About Christie
Christie Mitchell is a cultural worker and contemporary art curator. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, an organization dedicated to providing arts and music resources, exhibitions, art classes, and year-round public programs to the San Diego community. Previously, she worked as an independent curator, and in the curatorial department of the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she started as a part of the team orchestrating the museum’s move to a new building downtown. While at the Whitney she organized and co-organized multiple exhibitions including Open Plan: Steve McQueen , Do Ho Suh: 95 Horatio Street, fruits, vegetables; fruit and vegetable salad, and the retrospective Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again, which debuted at the Whitney before traveling to the San Francisco Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago in 2018-2020. Prior to this she was a Research Assistant for the publication and exhibition Phenomenal: California Light, Space, Surface, at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, as a part of the Getty initiative “Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945–1980”.
Mitchell is also on the Program Committee of Voices in Contemporary Art (VoCA) where she has led three artist talks, participated in an Artist Interview Workshop, and served as a member of the editorial team for the 10th issue of VoCA Journal. In addition to her VoCA activities, she has acted as a juror for the WestBeth Artists Council, the Greenwich Art Society, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Mitchell earned an M.A. from the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, where she focused on modern and contemporary art, and holds a B.A. in Art History with a minor in French from Duke University.
Strategies of resistance are not new, but in this moment take on a renewed and heightened tone. The works and artists in this exhibition confront the greed and tyranny ravaging mental, physical, governmental, and planetary health. In refusing complacency perhaps we pose more questions than we answer, chief among them: have we lost all compassion? In our current dystopian reality, who gets to live freely, able to make choices about their own bodies, able to vote without harassment, able to exist outside an exploitative economic system, able walk into a public space without the specter of violence? As I ponder this, artistic strategies that seek out discomfort counterintuitively provide me, and I hope you, with a space to process, learn, and build anew.
Christie Mitchell, guest curator
About Christie
Christie Mitchell is a cultural worker and contemporary art curator. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, an organization dedicated to providing arts and music resources, exhibitions, art classes, and year-round public programs to the San Diego community. Previously, she worked as an independent curator, and in the curatorial department of the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she started as a part of the team orchestrating the museum’s move to a new building downtown. While at the Whitney she organized and co-organized multiple exhibitions including Open Plan: Steve McQueen , Do Ho Suh: 95 Horatio Street, fruits, vegetables; fruit and vegetable salad, and the retrospective Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again, which debuted at the Whitney before traveling to the San Francisco Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago in 2018-2020. Prior to this she was a Research Assistant for the publication and exhibition Phenomenal: California Light, Space, Surface, at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, as a part of the Getty initiative “Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945–1980”.
Mitchell is also on the Program Committee of Voices in Contemporary Art (VoCA) where she has led three artist talks, participated in an Artist Interview Workshop, and served as a member of the editorial team for the 10th issue of VoCA Journal. In addition to her VoCA activities, she has acted as a juror for the WestBeth Artists Council, the Greenwich Art Society, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Mitchell earned an M.A. from the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, where she focused on modern and contemporary art, and holds a B.A. in Art History with a minor in French from Duke University.