Friday, June 10 through Saturday, July 23, 2022
In times of great pressure, the experience of Joy can feel like an act of defiance – a rebellion. As a psychological state, Joy is fleeting. Though a predictor of longer life, a superhuman salve for a myriad of ailments, joy if pursued overtly can actually cause depression. This elusive state of being might best be at its best when it sneaks up on you, when there are no expectations. It can present in the quietest of moments. Or, it can blot out the sky with its brightness. It comes in disguise, in the shape of people, hopes, and triumph. This exhibition features work that captures and inspires joy in a spectrum of experiences, experiments, and evocations. Some themes emerged in the process of selecting this work. Artists brought us their people, nature, laughter, and healing. There is a tactile sense of what comforts – the soft, the light, the warm. Clouds drift, bells jingle, light dances, blankets envelop. There’s laughter in the air, but there’s also a sense that laughter was… complicated. And isn’t it always, when it’s a good laugh, that digs down deep? This work frankly acknowledges joy usually doesn’t come easy. The process by which it’s achieved, the context it’s found in- is often in relationship to grief, strife, work, monotony, or some other far less desirable feeling. How amazing that nonetheless it exists, a brilliant and shining beacon calling us home to ourselves.
Featuring: Eleanor Aldrich, Chloë Bass, Alex Branch, Celeste Butler, Mark Cowardin, Rie Egawa, Eric Scrivner + Heather Anacker, Rachel Gregor, Kahlil Robert Irving, Fuko Ito, Dylan Mortimer, Lola Ayisha Ogbara, Patricia Bordallo Dibildox + Meghan Skevington, Amy Reidel, Hard Stop, Kevin Umaña, and Mikey Yates
Programming
Exhibition Opening Reception Friday, June 10 from 6:00-9:00 PM | CSF Gallery Please join us for the opening reception for Joy and Other Feats of Strength. Masks required indoors. To learn more about our COVID-19 Protocol, visit charlottestreet.org/plan-your-visit.
Writing Workshop with author Rebekah Taussig Saturday, July 2 from 10:00 AM-12:00 PM | CSF Kemper Library The last two-plus years have been – so much. The distress and suffering, stress and chaos is not hard to find. But what about joy? Is there a way to feel loss and joy at the same time? Rage and comfort, grief and levity, anxiety and openness, strain and resilience, devastation and creativity? In a two hour workshop, Rebekah Taussig creates space for participants to hold onto the both/and of our stories. Rebekah Taussig, PH.D. is a Kansas City writer and teacher with her doctorate in Creative Nonfiction and Disability Studies. She has led workshops and presentations at the University of Michigan, University of Kansas, and Davidson College on disability representation, identity, and community. She also runs the Instagram platform @sitting_pretty where she crafts “mini-memoirs” to contribute nuance to the collective narratives being told about disability in our culture. She lives with two cranky orange cats and one angsty-tender human.
Virtual Fishbowl Dialogue with Exhibition Artists Wednesday, July 13 from 6:00-6:45 PM (CST) | ZOOM
Recipe Exchange with Patricia Bordallo Dibildox and Meghan Skevington Saturday July 23 from 10:00 AM-12:00 PM | CSF Kemper Library Arrive with 20 handwritten copies of your favorite family recipe, and leave with a small collection of recipes shared by participants and Joy Exhibition artists, Patricia Bordallo Dibildox and Meghan Skevington. Learn a little more about their collaborative work process, and the inspiration behind their piece, Piquancy.
Exhibition Details
