“In every single place I Go Is Dwelling” is on view now at Huagabrooks Gallery within the Historic Candy Auburn District. (Photograph courtesy of John Stephens)
Dwelling, each as an idea and as a spot, has lengthy been the topic of creative inquiry. From Carrie Mae Weems’ Kitchen Desk collection to Do Ho Suh’s ongoing collection of textile reproductions of home areas, “residence” takes many kinds and is interpreted some ways.
Dwelling generally is a place to relaxation your head or a gathering place for household and family members. It’s generally the place one feels most snug whereas additionally the positioning of home labor. House is all of this stuff and extra, an inexhaustible topic central to humanism, immigration, identification politics and feminism, amongst others. This impossibly complicated web of connotations and denotations is the focus for 3 exhibitions in Atlanta at South River Artwork Studios, the Avondale Arts Middle and Haugabrooks Gallery.
At South River Artwork Studios, Catalina Bellizzi-Itiola presents her solo exhibition MAMA (till July 12). Zeroing in on motherhood is sort of as not possible of a activity as zeroing in on a singular definition of “residence,” and this exhibition displays precisely that. A largely autobiographical exhibition, in MAMA, Itiola presents some dozen work depicting the emotional impact of motherhood.
As may very well be anticipated, the work are summary, with a lot of them morphing into totally non-objective compositions. Cocoon Mush (2025) depicts a dense cluster of blue and yellow shapes and marks set towards a crimson floor. Regardless of the just about frenetic vitality of the knot on the heart, the colours stay largely undiluted, staying near jewel-toned. Composed of the three major colours — purple, yellow and blue — Itiola appears to allude to motherhood as a chaotic cluster of blended messages. Regardless of this, it holds one thing elemental. Motherhood is a foundational tenet, one which, whereas maybe troublesome to outline, isn’t troublesome to determine.
On the Avondale Arts Middle, American Asian — a big group exhibition (by means of June 21) curated by Nicole Kang Ahn — explores the various manifestations of Asian American identities. Whereas the method of immigrating to a brand new nation essentially causes turmoil and divorce from ancestral grounds, this exhibition reveals that this trauma needn’t be completely disaffecting.
In Jessica Lee’s She’s a spicy kitty (2025), a rug depicts what seems to be a panorama. I’m unsure exactly what the rug depicts as a result of, as it’s introduced on the wall within the gallery, it has collapsed in on itself. Taking the type of a crumpled piece of paper, this textile sculpture is each irritating in its lack of legibility and delightful for its complexity.
With this sculpture, the artist refuses any form of intelligible depiction of residence, maybe as an alternative providing a mirror to the artist’s personal understanding of their Asian ancestry. As well as, the sculptural qualities of the paintings thwart no matter purposeful use it could have had. Whereas the disruption to each type and content material work towards a straightforward understanding of the work, I discovered that to be its strongest high quality, for what’s residence to immigrants if not an idea that resists simple understanding?
At Haugabrooks Gallery, Sierra King curates a gaggle exhibition In every single place I Go Is Dwelling (by means of June 25). As seen within the exhibition textual content, this assortment of works “investigates the connection that we’ve got to cultural artifacts within the properties of buddies and family members. Particularly, work that have been marketed to African Individuals by means of native galleries, artwork festivals, exhibitions and large print gross sales which have been painted in periods of racial segregation by means of the Civil Rights Motion.”
Based mostly on this introductory textual content, I anticipated to stroll into an exhibition portraying the methods by which the house can function the muse for radical political considering. As a substitute, what I discovered was a set of artists, two of which merely depict homes, whereas the opposite two appear utterly misguided.
Undercast (2025) by Candace Caston is a portray of the aspect of a home. Painted in high-key lighting with reasonably lifelike type, this home appears to be a literal portrait of a spot: a nonetheless life depicting a home. However this piece doesn’t include any of the layered symbology present in historic nonetheless lifes; as an alternative, its interpretation appears to start and finish with the comb — there may be not a lot to interpret past the applying of paint.
Elsewhere, Contemporary Set (2022) by Ariel Dannielle depicts a pair of manicured palms hovering over an individual’s chest. Cropped to indicate simply the palms and surrounding torso, the topic of this portray is evident, self-adornment. Whereas practices of decoration are wealthy in historical past, notably in Black tradition, I miss out on how this set of nails has something to do with segregation.
Given what’s current, the exhibition appears to focus extra on the house as a web site of day by day praxis; a well-known place the place one may be oneself. Had the exhibition supplied this framing, it might need been extra significant. Because it stands, the theme of the present and its contents learn as virtually painfully dissonant.
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Leia Genis is a trans artist and author at the moment based mostly in Atlanta. Her writing has been printed in Hyperallergic, Frieze, Burnaway, Artwork Papers and Quantity: Inc. Genis is a graduate of the Savannah Faculty of Artwork and Design and can be an avid bicycle owner with a contest historical past on the nationwide degree.
