Unaccustomed Earth, Beacon Gallery's final exhibition before becoming a nonprofit, features the work of artists Emily Rose and Beatriz Whitehill

BOSTON, Oct. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Beacon Gallery is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition Unaccustomed Earth, featuring the work of Boston-based artists Emily Rose and Beatriz Whitehill. Unaccustomed Earth, is a two-artist show running from November 03, 2023 - January 14, 2024. This exhibition honors Jhumpa Lahiri's book of the same title, inspired by the Nathaniel Hawthorne quote "Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children ... shall strike their roots in unaccustomed earth."

Unaccustomed Earth parallels the diasporic practice of maintaining some cultural traditions and reinventing others. The two Caribbean-origin artists illustrate the ways they have maintained and reinvented cultural traditions with their own unique visual language.

This two-person exhibition is organized into vignettes, similar to the novel. Working in a variety of media, the artists reinforce the notion that there is no single answer for resilience and learning to flourish in one's own Unaccustomed Earth. Through painting, sculpture, animation, and installation, the two artists grapple with their positions as storytellers, and forbearers of family culture and artistry, all while exploring their diasporic identities.

Unaccustomed Earth also marks the final exhibition occurring under the brand Beacon Gallery for the art space at 524b Harrison Avenue. The founder and owner of Beacon Gallery, Christine O'Donnell, is turning the gallery into a 501c3 nonprofit entitled ShowUp.

While ShowUp officially takes over Beacon Gallery as of January 2024, Beacon Gallery owner & director Christine O'Donnell will continue as Executive Director and Board President. ShowUp will feature exhibitions curated by guest curators including Unaccustomed Earth curator Chenoa Baker, as well as host programming, workshops, and community events. ShowUp's mission is to empower artists and curators to experiment, learn and have meaningful exchanges, amplify artists and their voices, give artists tools for self-sufficiency, and connect artists to local communities and beyond.  More information will be available soon on social media and their forthcoming website.

Unaccustomed Earth Events:

November 3, 2023 5–8 pm: First Friday Opening Reception
November 12, 2023 12-4 pm: Beatriz Whitehill live painting event. Personalized 4 x 4 paintings made live in-gallery.
December 1, 5-8 pm: SoWa First Friday
January 5, 2024 5-8 pm: SoWa First Friday

About the Artists

Emily Rose (b. 1994) is a Puerto Rican-American multidisciplinary artist. Her work addresses the legacy of colonialism and its impact on the Caribbean diaspora, particularly the effects of ancestral trauma. She focuses on identity, memory, home, and healing through research, visual art, and performance. She explores how identities are formed, rejected, and erased to build a sense of belonging and community. Repurposing associated objects of memory and family photographs, she evokes one's imagination, senses, connections, and healing. As part of her artistic practice she revisits physical and metaphorical spaces through collective memories and dreams as a medium to remember the past, present, and forgotten parts of ourselves.

Beatriz Whitehill (b. 1998) is a visual artist based in Jamaica Plain. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Beatriz's practice encompasses her interests in painting, collage, and stop-motion animation. Much of Beatriz's work is inspired by the intersection of traditional painting and street art, video animation, and contemporary fashion design, such as streetwear. The stories within her work are snapshots of moments that draw reflections of one's place in the world with hidden details that encourage the viewer to take a longer look. These stories may depict magical or mythical elements in a modern world, the influence of magical realism on her work. Magical realism is a strong influence in her work because its narratives usually span generations. Considering multigenerational narratives, she often draws on her Puerto Rican heritage when she creates art. Symbols from her culture, like the vejigante masked monsters, help her tell stories about resilience within oneself and represent the inner angels and demons that we all grapple with.

About the Curator

Chenoa Baker
Beacon Gallery's Curator Chenoa Baker (she/her) is a curator, wordsmith, and descendant of self-emancipators. Art spaces as incubators for intergroup dialogue and imaginative portals were her foray into curatorial work. She worked on: Gio Swaby: Fresh Up at the Peabody Essex Museum; Simone Leigh at ICA/Boston; and Touching Roots: Black Ancestral Legacies in the Americas at MFA/Boston. Her autobiographical-style art criticism appears in Public Parking, Material Intelligence, Studio Potter, Boston Art Review, Sixty Inches From Center, Burnaway, and a monograph contribution for Helena Metaferia: Generations, Art For This Moment.

About Beacon Gallery
Beacon Gallery (2017-2023) is a contemporary art gallery located in Boston's South End, providing a platform for emerging and established artists to deliver thought-provoking solo and group shows, and community-building events. As a partner to greater Boston's artistic community, Beacon Gallery is committed to producing thoughtfully curated exhibitions that showcase original conceptual art and share compelling messages and unique perspectives. It aims to make art accessible to the general public, as well as collectors and institutions locally, nationally, and globally. For more information go to our website and follow us on Instagram.

About ShowUp 
ShowUp is a 501c3-designated nonprofit contemporary art exhibition space in Boston's South End. Founded in 2019 by Christine O'Donnell as a sister nonprofit to Beacon Gallery, it is now fully taking over the gallery's mission and programming.  ShowUp strives to foster art, education, and empowerment. ShowUp supports local and regional artists, with a focus on its own and others' social practice, by exhibiting artwork, hosting workshops, classes, and building community within the art world and beyond. 

Mission Statement:
ShowUp is a haven for disruptors of the artistic status quo. We are an art-focused community, specialized in exhibitions, programs, and opportunities both inside and beyond our walls.
Our mission is to
EMPOWER artists and curators to experiment, learn and have meaningful exchanges
AMPLIFY artists and their voices
GIVE artists tools for self-sufficiency
CONNECT artists to local communities and beyond

SOURCE Beacon Gallery