Metro Weekly

Passages at Torpedo Factory explores the lasting effects of migration

The artists are either immigrants themselves or were raised in immigrant families

Rafael Rodriguez, Cold, 2017. Acrylic on canvas

A new juried artist show in Old Town features personal works in various media exposing the lasting effects migration can have on one’s cultural identity and individual experiences, even when a generation or two removed from being immigrants.

The 16 artists represented in this Target Gallery exhibition are either immigrants themselves or were raised in immigrant families, and their works, in painting, sculpture, collage, and video reveal, as juror Adriana Ospina of the Art Museum of Americas puts it, “a multi-layered personal and complex process of journeys, cultural exchange, assimilation, rejection, transculturation, and preservation.”

Nine of the 16 artists are from the region: Abiodun Eniyandunni, Kanika Sircar, Marite Vidales, and Helen Zughaib of D.C., Bahar Jalehmahmoudi of Adelphi, Md., Rafael Rodriguez of Hyattsville, Md., Jenny Wu of Alexandria, Ju Yun of Chantilly, Va., and WonJung Choi of Richmond.

Opens Saturday Jan. 27, with a public reception Thursday, Feb. 8, from 6 to 8 p.m. On display through March 4. The Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 North Union St. Alexandria. Free. Call 703-838-4565 or visit torpedofactory.org.

Passages at Torpedo factory Won Jung Choi, Borderless, 2017. Antique silver plate, vintage metal, and rivets
Ju Yun, Higher Women East and West, 2016. Mixed media
Helen Zughaib, Syrian Migration series #1, 2016. Gouache on board
Aaron Wax, Wallet, 2015. Archival inkjet print

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