Critical Ground: Art and Environmental Justice affirms the role of artists in shaping public understanding and response to environmental justice issues. Through this exhibition, the Washington Sculptors Group (WSG) aims to create an inclusive and thought-provoking experience for audiences of all ages — one that invites reflection, fosters empathy, and encourages creative action toward a more just and sustainable world.
Juried by curator Tomora Wright Swann, this exhibition brings together contemporary recountings of the natural world. Artists critically reflect on what has been observed, endured and deemed urgent to highlight: waste, climate change, greed and the intertwined instability of human and nonhuman life. A diverse range of materials that include plastic, wood, formed glass, and shells emphasize processes of transformation, while soil, digital media, and steel gesture toward regeneration and continuity. A recurring found-object motif threads the works together, prompting viewers to reflect on the significance of discarded materials and the stories embedded in what remains. Addressing themes of decay, endangered species, aquatic and avian ecosystems, and environmental mitigation, each piece functions as both evidence and a call to action. Together, the works serve as an inquiry into how we perceive, inhabit, and contribute to ecological life, and what we might learn through collective responsibility amid ongoing environmental injustice and social transformation.
FEATURED ARTISTS
Esperanza Alzona, Joanathan Bessaci, Nizette Brennan, Sally Canzoneri, Chris Combs, Nicholas Femia, Billy Friebele, McCleary Gallagher, Tom Greaves, Xiang Gu, Raina Hatcher, Jean Kim, Joan Konkel, Heidi Lippman, Jon Lundak, Jacqueline Maggi, Samuel Miller, Davide Prete, Radhakund Ramnarine, Jim Roberts, Ira Tattelman, David Whitmore, Janet Wittenberg, Michael Wolf, Marcie Wolf-Hubbard
