Sharon Daniel
Through November 16 - Take Action / A For Freedoms Exhibition at CCA Hubbell St Galleries. I emerged from the midterms this week with a sense of cautious optimism about the progress made, and also with a clear view of what we need to keep working hard to change: voter suppression and racism, just for starters. The timing was perfect therefore for me to see this bracing exhibition of recent political work by an array of local artists. Many of the pieces have a participatory component, as when Christine Wong Yap encourages you to think of a place you feel like you belong and then place it on a map, or in Stephanie Syjuco's subversive FREE TEXTS installation that deliberately sends visitors to websites where copyrighted writing can be read and downloaded. Activism is a strong theme throughout as well, and I loved how Taraneh Hemami's metal People Power stencils created such an effective visual statement when hanging in a row on the wall but could also be taken down and very practically used to make protest signs and such. I was also quite moved by Sharon Daniel's UNDOING TIME installations, pictured above, which upend the meaning of MAGA hats and the American flag to comment on prisoners' rights and sweatshop labor in our criminal justice system. I thought specifically of the 1 million individuals who just had their voting rights restored in Florida and felt the tiniest twinge of hope for the future.