A year ago this month was “(re)Location: Real and Imaginative Displacement” aka the U-Haul exhibition the gallery fellows baddies, and “Soft Archives: Threads and Textures of History”, co-curated with
@diegoborgsdorf at IA&A Hillyer in DC :)
“(re)Location” explored the layers of land and community in Claremont, CA. This exhibition asked what it means to live, learn, and create in a place shaped by histories of Indigenous erasure, displacement and colonization. Drawing from archival images, oral histories, and artistic responses, it engaged with the emotional and material dimensions of home, loss, and community. 4 themes that traced how belonging is built and undone over time: Indigenous presence and environmental change, labor and cultural representation, neighborhood erasure, and contemporary identity.
“Soft Archives” featured six early-career artists across the U.S. and examined diasporic narratives through fiber. Diego Borgsdorf Fuenzalida’s South American weavings document life after political violence in diasporic Chile, while Davvon Branker’s cyanotype fabric installations imprint images of Afro-Caribbean lives. Kayla Dantz transforms photographs into wearable archives, and HĂąng LĂŞ fills archival silences of the American War in Việt Nam with indigo dyes and embroidered cyanotypes. Annais Morales highlights Mexican-American nostalgia in the California borderlands, and lyra purugganan’s filet crochet explores desire, joy, and colonial legacies in the Philippines. These artists showcase fiber’s potential as an archival material capable of building history. The tactile nature of textiles invites an intimate engagement with the past, becoming a canvas upon which underrepresented voices can be amplified while challenging dominant historical accounts.Â
Both exhibitions had accompanying public programs and opening receptions
