Metro Weekly

Gallery: We Can’t Predict Tomorrow at Arlington Arts Center

The in-person exhibition reveals how nine artists approached their art during the pandemic

arlington arts center
Jackie Milad, Hay Magica Por Aqui

Currently on display at Virginia’s Arlington Arts Center is an exhibition revealing how nine artists approached their art during the pandemic.

In sculpture, photography, installation, drawing, and painting, the exhibited works showcase themes that took on heightened relevance during the prolonged period of quarantine and isolation, ranging from issues of social justice and climate change to intense longing for sanctuary, community, and shared experiences.

Organized by guest curator Amanda JirΓ³n-Murphy, We Can’t Predict Tomorrow features nine multi-disciplinary artists, with highlights including James Balo, whose Speak Chile explores Black queer love and family histories through storytelling, fashion, and performance, as captured on video; Nakeya Brown, whose X-pressions: Black Beauty Still Lifes is a photo suite paying homage to Black hairstyles and fashion as depicted in print media from the last three decades of the 20th century; and Leigh Davis, whose Reunions is an interactive monumental black pyramid structure commonly known as a “psychomanteum” by grief practitioners, intended to aid in the grieving process by allowing visitors, one at a time, to spend some time in quiet remembrance of a deceased loved one.

The exhibit also includes works by Bahar Yürükoğlu, Tommy Bobo, Guarina Lopez, Lex Marie, Jackie Milad, and Jared Nielsen. On display through Aug. 28. Arlington Arts Center is located at 3550 Wilson Blvd. Call 703-248-6800 or visit www.arlingtonartscenter.org.

Lex Marie, At His Daddy's House
Lex Marie, At His Daddy’s House
arlington arts center
Bahar Yurukoglu, IYKYK Still
arlington arts center
Bahar Yurukoglu, IYKYK Installation Shot
arlington arts center
Leigh Davi, Reunions

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