Unaccustomed Earth

November 3, 2023 - January 14, 2024

Unaccustomed Earth, a two-artist show that runs from 11/03/2023 - 01/14/2024, features the work of Emily Rose and Beatriz Whitehill. This exhibition honors Jhumpa Lahiri’s book of the same title which is inspired by a quote by Nathaniel Hawthorne about the resilience of people who move from place to place.

Lahiri’s book features vignettes of Bengali families in America maintaining some cultural traditions and reinventing others. This exhibition parallels that practice as each artist from the Caribbean diaspora illustrates the many ways they keep and reinvent cultural traditions through their own unique visual languages.

This group exhibition is organized into vignettes, similar to the novel. The two artists, working in a variety of media, reinforce the notion that there is no single answer for how one may learn to flourish in their unaccustomed earth. In painting, sculpture, and animation, each artist grapples with their position as storytellers, and forbearers of family culture and artistry all while exploring their diasporic identity in a way that is surreal, dream-like, and sometimes chaotic. The tone is magical realist, dissonant, comforting, and dreamlike.

Unaccustomed Earth will also mark the final exhibition occurring under the brand Beacon Gallery for the art space at 524b Harrison Avenue. Beacon Gallery will become a 501c3 nonprofit, rebranded as ShowUp.

Join Beatriz Whitehill and Emily Rose, as well as moderator Chenoa Baker for an online artist talk on December 13th. Register here

Read our commissioned essay by Jasper A. Sanchez: The Magic of Memory: Reimagining Resilience in Diasporic Puerto Rican Art

Join us for

Harmonía Creativa: Crafting Care through Collage

January 13, 2024 2-4 pm

Join Unaccustomed Earth artists Emily Rose and Beatriz Whitehill as they close out the exhibition with a community art event focused on self-care and warming the soul!

Harmonía Creativa: Crafting Care through Collage is a workshop for individuals, couples, or the whole family! Connect with your creative side, reflect on the year past, set intentions for the year ahead, or honor a loved one through an artmaking activity open to all.

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Tierra no acostumbrada, una exposición de dos artistas que se desarrollará del 3/11/2023 al 28/01/2024, presenta el trabajo de Emily Rose y Beatriz Whitehill. Esta exposición rinde homenaje al libro del mismo título de Jhumpa Lahiri, inspirado en una cita de Nathaniel Hawthorne sobre la resiliencia de las personas que se trasladan de un lugar a otro.

El libro de Lahiri presenta viñetas de familias bengalíes en Estados Unidos que mantienen algunas tradiciones culturales y reinventan otras. Esta exposición es paralela a esa práctica, ya que cada artista de la diáspora caribeña ilustra las muchas formas en que mantienen y reinventan las tradiciones culturales a través de sus propios lenguajes visuales únicos.

Esta exposición colectiva está organizada en viñetas, similar a la novela. Los dos artistas, que trabajan en una variedad de medios, refuerzan la noción de que no existe una respuesta única sobre cómo uno puede aprender a prosperar en su tierra desacostumbrada. En pintura, escultura y animación, cada artista lucha con su posición como narradores y precursores de la cultura y el arte familiar, al mismo tiempo que explora su identidad diaspórica de una manera surrealista, onírica y, a veces, caótica. El tono es realista mágico, disonante, reconfortante y onírico.