Close to Home
Banner image: Detail from My Jazzed Mountains, Gwen Maxwell Williams, 100% cotton, 1998.
Close to Home
July 22, 2021 - August 14, 2021
Close to Home challenges audiences to think intentionally about the idea of “home” through the use of paint, sculpture, quilting, and textural arts. The representations of “home” also span depictions of historical artifacts, abstract illustrations, to what home might look like in the future.
While being some of the most vulnerable to forced migration and displacement, the 14 artists in Close to Home actively celebrate the resilience of people of color using nuanced understandings of place.
Close to Home asks viewers to actively engage with questions of what makes our homes distinct. Who gets to define what makes places important or meaningful? Where do we individually fit in to community definitions of belonging? What does it look like to keep records and pay respect to our community members who have stewarded the land for generations? The 14 exhibiting artists’ practices grapple with these questions using ideas and physical objects that represent meaningful parts of their own homes and communities.
The exhibition also displays the range and growth of the City of Seattle's Civic Art Collection, which includes pieces by instrumental Pacific Northwest artists.
Close to Home features artworks from the following artists:
- Romson Regrade Bustillo
- Ka'ila Farrell-Smith
- Jonathan Wakuda Fischer
- Hongzhe Liang /名媛
- Micah Mccarty
- missTANGQ
- Miya Sukune
- Earnest Swanson
- Robert Running Fisher Upham
- Markel Uriu
- Gwen Maxwell Williams
- Jennifer Angaiak Wood
- Crystal Worl
- Junko Yamamoto
This exhibition consists of portable artworks in the City of Seattle’s Civic Art Collection, purchased between 2020 and 2021 in partnership with Seattle Together and Seattle City Light. Close to Home is organized and presented by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and is curated by Ricky Reyes in partnership with ARTS at King Street Station Advisors. Support for the installation is provided by Benjamin Gale-Schreck and Blake Haygood.
Media
- South Seattle Emerald - ARTS at King Street Station Presents the BIPOC-Focused Exhibit ‘Close to Home’
Image: Metaphor of my mother, missTANGQ, Mixed media, 2018.
Banner image: Detail from My Jazzed Mountains, Gwen Maxwell Williams, 100% cotton, 1998.