"Preoccupation" organized by Aneeta Mitha

a swirling mass of black paint on top of red and yellow gestural marks made in pastel on white paper.
A ceramic sculpture of a watermelon slice, painted with a green rind, red fruit flesh, and black seeds.

About the Exhibition

Preoccupation centers what many around the world have been consumed with, weaving in and out of our social media feeds, intimate conversations, and thoughts for the last nine months: the genocide in Gaza. This collection of works from NIAD’s extensive archive represents the transfiguration that can happen when one experiences or is witness to unrelenting trauma, violence, and war: everyday symbols and objects, unconnected to the context of the trauma, begin to take its shape. The relentless stream of images and stories from Gaza has had the power to profoundly shape how we read our world.

Curated from this perspective of objects taking on new meaning amidst highly charged contexts—in this case, the context of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians—each piece mutates to adapt to this backdrop. Peter Harris’ explosive abstract paintings converse with Sylvia Fragoso’s desolate sculpture, bringing to mind buildings turned to rubble in the aftermath of a bombing. The works by Elmeater Morton, Danny Thach, and Jonathan Velazquez evoke the daily haunting imagery of countless disembodied Palestinian children, while Joseph Rux's linocuts and Miguel Chacon’s prints represent the diverse enduring struggles of resistance and solidarity. Preoccupation underscores how witnessing incessant brutality can transform the spectator’s gaze, altering how they interpret art regardless of its original context.

 

About the Organizer

Aneeta Mitha is a visual artist using photography, film, and new media to interrogate concepts of identity, visibility, and political complacency. Along with their own practice, they are also one-half of KANTA Collaborative, an experimental art collaboration addressing issues such as climate change and white supremacy.