Media Contact:
Timothy Brown
Hillyer Director
hillyerdirector@artsandartists.org
PRESS RELEASE
Newly Selected Artists: Joan Cox and Andrea Sherrill Evans August 3 – September 1, 2024. The opening receptions are Friday, August 2 (“First Friday”), 6 to 8 p.m.
Joan Cox
Sapphic Gaze
Sapphic Gaze presents a compelling series of vibrant, life-size portraits that delve into the intimate lives of women-loving women. Drawing from her 23-year relationship and the experiences of lesbian couples in her community, Joan Cox crafts visual narratives that champion intense, celebratory, and nuanced relationships. By reimagining historical art compositions with personal narratives and lush, symbolic imagery, Joan challenges the historical absence of lesbian representation in Western art. Her paintings are a canvas of affirmation, celebrating the dynamic and complex intimacies between women, which have long been overlooked or taboo. Through this exhibition, Joan showcases the beauty and complexity of sapphic love and aims to affirm these relationships, recognizing them for their intrinsic value and significant place in contemporary society.
Andrea Sherrill Evans
New Growth
New Growth features a series of site responsive drawings studying the city landscape surrounding IA&A at Hillyer. Observations of the reciprocal impact of nature and the built world reveal complex, interconnected relationships. These drawings explore ways the local ecology is shaped by its human inhabitants and how, in turn, this environment influences human experience and perception of a place.
In this work, Evans incorporates a palette of inks and paper made with botanical sources collected within walking distance of the gallery. Cultivated from plants in abundance or past their prime–spent blooms, fallen branches, and unruly “weeds”–the work is both of this place and an instrument to learn about it. These materials breathe life into drawings of both the tended, and overlooked, nature of the surrounding neighborhoods–the manicured hedges and gardens alongside new growth emerging between cobblestones.
Ongoing Exhibition
Democracy in the Crossfire: Art, Identity, and Resilience
Curated by Tim Brown and Dr. Sarah Klein
In 2024, over four billion individuals—nearly half of the world’s population—reside in countries participating in national elections. Against this backdrop, our exhibition and associated programming stand as an exploration of democracy: its triumphs, its trials, its pledges, and its pitfalls.
Democracy in the Crossfire showcases a collective narrative woven together by a collection of dynamic local, national, and international artists, offering a tapestry of diverse perspectives on the pressing global issues confronting citizens in contemporary democratic landscapes. Notably, the inclusion of Washington, DC area artists adds a crucial dimension. Their art amplifies the diverse voices and experiences of our community, fostering dialogue and reflection on the challenges inherent in democratic societies worldwide
Through this exhibition, visitors are challenged to confront the intricate paradoxes inherent in democratic frameworks, delving into the dynamics of opportunity, participation, representation, conflict, and the profound role of identity in shaping collective action and societal transformation.
Featured Artists
- Anna U Davis
- Carter Wynne
- Helen Zughaib
- Jannis Kounellis
- Kirsty Little
- Nebojša Šerić Shoba
- Orna Ben-Ami
- Patrick G. Ryan
- Renée Stout
- Sebastian Rich
- Shamila Chaudhary
- Steven Cummings
- Tracy Meehleib
- Vahram Aghasyan
- Zoe Kosmidou
Image Credits
Joan Cox, The Floor is Ours (detail), 2022, oil on canvas, 78 x 54 in; Andrea Sherrill Evans, New Growth (Hillyer) #6, 2024, inks made with red deadnettle, honeysuckle leaves, dogwood blossoms, bark from fallen branches, and dandelion leaves (with modifiers of alum, soda ash, and iron) on handmade Hakone grass and cotton paper, 17.5 x 17.5 in; Democracy in the Crossfire, Sebastian Rich, Afghan Refugee Severely Beaten by Police, Patras, Greece, 2009, photograph, 18 x 24 in.