Featuring Johannes Barfield, Alexandra Bell, Erika Diamond, Johannah Herr, Jammie Holmes, Matt Kenyon, William Pope.L, Shaun Leonardo, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Cara Sheffler, Hồng-Ân Trương, Jina Valentine, Ashima Yadava

The sun still rises in spite of everything draws inspiration from the Van Every/Smith Galleries’ 2014 exhibition State of Emergency in its consideration of the role visual artists play in documenting, illuminating, and rendering disasters. In the catalogue for that exhibition, Marita Sturken opened her essay by noting that “the condition of disaster is often defined as a state outside of the norm.” The premise for this exhibition reconsiders Sturken’s statement. In the wake of a global pandemic, wars, increased mass shootings, widespread climate-driven catastrophes, a rise in violence against the AAPI community, and legislation that oppresses personal freedoms, among many other concerns, disaster seems less of an anomaly and more of a persistent reality.

There is great cause for concern, yet, “the sun still rises.” We believe in the power of the visual arts and present this exhibition in support of artists who are exposing and documenting our collective experiences, creating space for grief, mourning, civil dialogue, collaboration, connection, understanding, and protest, while helping us imagine a more equitable, just, safe future.