A Conciliatory Letter

Curated by Yuxuan (Jas) Sun

Artists: Felipe de Ávila Franco, Linnéa Gad, Hyemi Kim, Dana Levy, Ma Tiantian, Wang Yien, Xia Han

February 15 – March 1, 2023

CP Projects Space at the School of Visual Arts is pleased to present A Conciliatory Letter, curated by MA Curatorial Practice student Yuxuan (Jas) Sun. Today, with frequent ecological disasters, the convivial relationship between nature and humanity has changed beyond recognition. Nature can no longer bear the cycles of injury and partial repair (if any) and has finally decided to write a frank letter to mankind, addressing the need for reconciliation. The exhibition takes nature as the protagonist, speaking of lost harmony and the sadness of this relationship in its current woeful state, and imagining both beauty and collapse in the future. Nature looks forward to humanity's reply. What will be the response?

The artists in the exhibition offer a sense of choice still possible in this relationship, tantalizing the audience with cautionary images and the question of how to move forward. Felipe de Ávila Franco’s sculpture reflected on the conflicting relationship between human society and the environment. Linnéa Gad’s sculpture addresses our climate catastrophe by making tactile responses which echoes the time-based ecological processes that govern the ecosystems and lives. Hyemi Kim's video collage imagines an utopian realm where people and nature live in harmony. Dana Levy's film is filled with eerie imagery that expresses the loneliness and emptiness of being the last person in a post Covid-19 world. Ma Tiantian’s oil painting expresses the spirit world given by nature to humanity and the harmonious atmosphere of the two. Wang Yien examines and questions the symbiotic relationship between (organisms in) nature and humans using a variety of materials, while Xia Han's animation offers a vision of a post-Anthropocene world.