Trish Tillman

School of Visual Arts presents “Believing You,” an interdisciplinary exhibition that features an all women and nonbinary roster of artists, most of whom are also SVA MFA Fine Arts alumni. Curated by Risa Puleo, the exhibition will be on view from Saturday, January 11, through Saturday, February 1, at the SVA Chelsea Gallery.

The exhibition title was generated out of a response to artist Alicia Smith’s recent work I Believe You, a video that explores the possibility of recovery from trauma in the poetics of restorative justice. “Believing You” presents a range of formal, material and aesthetic response to an era increasingly defined by questions of belief, be they about believing victims of the system and interpersonal abuse that formed the foundation of the #MeToo movement, or in parsing the layers of partisanship and political lies that underscore the hashtag #fakenews. How might visual language operate as an intermediary when spoken language fails us? How does the space created by a work of art function as a site for reframing and navigating the complexity of the world in its present state? These artists leverage specific identity-based critiques of social structure that also prioritize strategies for coming together.

Participating artists include Leah Dixon (2014), Nadine Faraj (2015), Alison Kuo (2014), Anette Millington (2005), Dana Robinson (2019), Aya Rodriguez-Izumi (2017), Stacy A. Scibelli (2009), Elyla (Fredman Barahona), Alicia Smith (2018), Trish Tillman (2009) and Emily Weiner (2011).

There will also be a lecture/performance by featured artist Elyla (Fredman Barahona) in conjunction with the exhibition on Tuesday, January 28, from 6:15 – 8:00pm, at the SVA Chelsea Gallery. Elyla (Fredman Barahona) is an Artist Protection Fund Fellow in residence at Bucknell University, supported by the Ekard Artist Residency.