NORTH ADAMS, MASS.—MCLA Gallery 51’s new virtual exhibit, “A Tourist in Your Own Home,” will open Saturday, Feb. 13, with an opening event held virtually at 2 p.m. on Feb. 13.
This event is free and open to the public via Zoom; those who would like to attend can register here. After the opening, the show will be viewable via the G51 website at mcla.edu/gallery51.
This virtual video exhibition marks the launch of the highly anticipated opening of the “Hostile Terrain” exhibition opening later this spring at Gallery 51. With works by the Sanctuary City Project already displayed on campus, this is the next phase in this campus-wide project.
Curated by artist Shasha Dothan, “A Tourist in Your Own Home” incorporates the work of six artists, all immigrants to the United States, invited by Dothan to create video works about their experiences in 2020. The exhibition looks at each artist’s struggle with the notion of home: Is your home the new country you live in? Or the country in which you were born? These questions are even more relevant in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic; immigrant artists may struggle even more with questions of displacement while their movements are restricted. As executive orders are signed that seem intended to change the lives of immigrants in the U.S., uncertainty is a common factor in everyday life. The fears and hopes of the immigrant are in question, many not knowing what their future will look like. The questions about home and feeling like you don’t belong become more difficult to answer. The artists Jisoo Chung, Marton Robinson, Shirin Bolourchi and Ali Azhari, Tania Zaidi and Shasha Dothan choose to look at this time in a different way, with a different perspective and in a different language. All these stories are connected to an individual experience but share a universal feeling of being lost in translation.
About Shasha Dothan
Shasha Dothan (b. 1987 Tel-Aviv) is a Brooklyn-based artist working with video, installation, poetry and sound. She creates immersive experiences that connect fragments of her personal history. Exhibitions include the Ramat Gan Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan; Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Petah Tikva; Blum & Poe, Los Angeles; Human Resources, Los Angeles; Erica Broussard Gallery, Santa Ana; American Jewish University, Los Angeles; Jerusalem Cultural Season, Jerusalem; University at Buffalo Art Galleries, Buffalo and Ashdod museum of Art, Ashdod. Dothan received an MFA from University of California Los Angeles (2018), and a BFA from Shenkar College (2013). Awards and scholarships include the John Baldessari Family Foundation Scholarship (2017-18); Young Artist Award from the Israeli Ministry of culture (2018); Word prize from AJU; Asylum Arts Grant; Philip & Muriel Berman Foundation Grant (2019) and the Artis residency grant for Vermont Studio center. She was an artist in residence at Mass Moca, Byrdcliffe and Vermont Studio center. She is a founding member of the art collective Anti Mehikon.
About BCRC:
MCLA’s Berkshire Cultural Resource Center (BCRC) provides opportunities, resources, and support to the Northern Berkshire Community. BCRC brings together the Northern Berkshire , MCLA and greater Creative Communities through its cultural programming including: MCLA Gallery 51, Downstreet Art, B-Hip, and MCLA Presents! We will promote, facilitate, and encourage a dialogue in order to foster a sustainable creative community. BCRC is a collaborative project of MCLA, MASS MoCA, and the City of North Adams.
