The trilogy of exhibitions in the gallery’s inaugural year, curated by Jaishri Abichandani and Natasha Becker, offer varied interpretations on the theme of Utopian Imagination. The exhibitions bring together a diverse group of international artists who draw on craft, activism, data visualization, and agitprop to point the way to a more just future.

Perilous Bodies, the first exhibition in the series, consists of photographs, sculpture, video, installation, and performance art in which artists incorporate their own cultural traditions to address oppression. Examples include David Antonio Cruz’s painting of violence against the trans community, Tiffany Chung’s lightbox installation depicting the shattering impact of the refugee crisis, and Hannah Brontë’s video of indigenous women reclaiming the power of the earth. Their artworks are powerful statements about ideas people are often quick to turn away from: black and brown bodies, refugee camps, the detritus of borderlands, broken earth. With these works, the artists seek to transform a world in peril into one we want to live in.

According to Lisa Kim, director of the Ford Foundation Gallery, “Perilous Bodies explores the inhumanity and injustice created by divisions of gender, race, class, and ethnicity. The artists in the exhibition offer a raw and honest look at the issues we must address head-on to ensure dignity for all.”

Artists in the exhibition are: Dineo Seshee Bopape (South Africa), Hannah Brontë (Australia), Margarita Cabrera (Mexico/US), Mahwish Chishty (Pakistan/US), Tiffany Chung (Vietnam/US), David Antonio Cruz (US), Nona Faustine (US), Guillermo Galindo (Mexico/US), Vanessa German (US), Mohamed Hafez (Syria/US), Otobong Nkanga (Nigeria/Belgium), Jasmeen Patheja (India), Sara Rahbar (Iran/US), Wendy Red Star (US/Apsáalooke/Crow), Tenzing Rigdol (Nepal/India), Dread Scott (US), Teresa Serrano (Mexico), Thenmozhi Soundararajan (US), and Barthélémy Toguo (Cameroon/France).

fordfoundation.org