Courtesy of Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery.September 2020 – December 2020
Curated by Irene Clouthier
Featuring artwork by Erick Benitez, Geraldo Camargo, Irene Clouthier, Hoesy Corona, Muriel Hasbun, Carolina Mayorga, Wilfredo Valladares and Fabiola Alvarez Yurcisin
Acceptance is a part of life. It is part of what makes us human. We accept and make choices every day of our lives. Aceptar creates a dialogue between the artist and the viewer about the ways we accept a new reality through the ups and downs and our immigration and identity experiences as artists. More specifically, we explore how eight artists adapted and merged existing cultures to create a new hybrid cultural identity.
This exhibition represents diversity in the immigration experience; examining the struggles and extraordinary efforts to permanently move to another country with dreams, traditions, and cultures ingrained, and to become immersed in a new life. The eight artists featured here have all had to adapt to a different language and find a separate identity. Each day as immigrants and Americans, we work to accept our new circumstances, and we look to the millions who have come before us who have enriched the tapestry of this country.
Some of the artists here present their personal identity that shows us the intricacy and complexity of heritage. Other
artists work on de parallelism or the creation of a new national symbol. While still other works address immigration
status and remind us to see humans as humans. Another artist builds a column made of recycled food trays that contain
remnants of moments, sharing in a group, joy, and community. One artist addresses identity by calling upon childhood
memories of his home and family. We also present artworks that address the domestic violence, child abuse and sexual
assault faced by women and families fleeing these circumstances in their native countries, only to face the same
dangers on their journeys to the United States.
“With Aceptar, we hope to highlight diversity in our immigration stories and open a dialogue about race, inclusion,
class disparity, and gender equality. In order to create change, we must keep these conversations alive and strong.
Aceptar is a reminder of the essence of this nation, a nation of immigrants, and allows us to imagine the kind of society
we want to live in, one with a better future for all. We believe that art has the power to unite us.” Irene Clouthier-Carrillo
This exhibition is supported by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
Curator and artist, Irene Clouthier was a 2019-2020 Honorable Mention at the IV Valencia Biennial in Spain. Erick
Benitez is the 2019 Sondheim Artscape Prize Winner and a 2020 Trawick Prize Finalist. Hoesy Corona and Muriel
Hasbun are both 2020 Sondheim Artscape Prize Finalists as well as 2019 Trawick Prize Finalists.
For more information, visit www.joanhisaokagallery.org.
