A note to my wonderful readers: I am starting to write a second monthly newsletter for paid subscribers. If you enjoy reading my work, and would like to get more frequent updates, you can pledge a monthly donation to join a few incredibly supportive folks who have already made the jump. Thanks to you, I am rising to the challenge of writing more often!
Dear friends, I am thrilled to return to Philadelphia next week!
My upcoming exhibit at Swarthmore College’s List Gallery is my second and most comprehensive solo show. Workshop of the World runs from January 18 to February 25, 2024, and includes several rugs the public has never seen before.
Whose Streets, which I created at the height of the 2020 pandemic lockdown, has traveled to Philly from Geneva, Switzerland, thanks to the generosity of its owner. I remember the bittersweet feeling of packaging it up, feeling excited about the amazing collector who took it in, but also not knowing if my loved ones would ever see it in person.
Picket, which came shortly after in 2021, is my most popular piece ever. It has featured in Lux, the Brooklyn Rail, and the New York Review of Books, and more than 700 people have bought the $20 print version. All this considered, it’s bizarre to think that almost nobody I know has seen Picket in real life. Now, thanks again to a generous collector loaning it out, it’s finally happening!
The exhibit includes 5 years of my textile work, including pieces from my 2021 Glen Foerd residency, Pure Finder and Workshop of the World, where it derives its show title. It also features last year’s Gospel, created at MacDowell, and Hot Labor Summer, the companion piece to Picket, which will meet its other half on the wall for the very first time.
This show is supported by many generous people who have invested in my practice, loaned my work out for exhibit, and shown me kindness and encouragement as I find my way as an artist. It’s been in the books since early 2022, when gallery director Andrea Packard and associate curator Tess Wei visited my South Philly studio and put their confidence in me. I’m unbelievably grateful for their trust and support.
Honestly, I am still getting used to the public-facing part of art making. Especially since I’ve returned to Tennessee, I don’t really experience “the limelight.” The big accomplishments and career milestones ultimately live on my phone, which feels divorced from my mundane life. I receive the accolades, feel good about myself for maybe two days, and then go back to a resting mental state of unease.
My artwork feels like a by-product of thinking, like it comes from a release valve for all the dread and anger that builds up in the machinery of daily life. I can’t say I always grasp its necessity to the world, or how it materially helps anyone besides me. After all, I’m here organizing against a state-sanctioned genocide that gets more brutal every day, and making art about this topic feels far less effective than throwing rocks at an IDF tank.
It does feel meaningful when I hear someone say my poster hangs in their union office and it makes them feel less alone. Or, that my work encourages somebody’s bargaining unit while they fight for a better contract. Or that it prompts a spark of a conversation with a coworker, a family member, someone disconnected from the politics of work, who might begin to understand what collective power means.
If one person comes away from my exhibition feeling that solidarity, knowing they are not alone across the long history of class struggle, I think that’s enough for me. I return to my artistic practice when I feel the most angry, alone, and afraid, and I hope it can carry you the way it has carried me.
Workshop of the World opens at List Gallery on January 25 with a public reception and artist talk at 4:30 PM in the Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema. The List Gallery reception will follow, 5:30–7:00 PM.
List Gallery hours are Tuesdays through Sundays, Noon–5:00 PM. Admission to the gallery and all events are free and open to the public.
Labor Intensive Recommendations
Samia Halaby — this 87-year-old Palestinian-American artist has worked to archive and share the Palestine poster tradition with an international audience. Halaby’s abstract paintings are not explicitly political, but her first solo exhibit was just cancelled by Indiana University. Join me in signing this petition to reinstate Halaby’s show.
Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult by Maria Bamford — a memoir about mental illness, addiction, comedy, and labor rights. This book reads like having a friend.
The YMCA — I finally joined the people’s gym and it was a great decision. Mine has a pool, sauna, and steam room! Let’s get strong.