May 5 - October 22, 2023‍

We are delighted to announce Listen Until You Hear, a six-artist exhibition of intersectional identity explorations including trans survivalism and Indigenous Futurism presented in collaboration with Fotografiska, New York. Curated by For Freedoms, this exhibition will feature the work of Cannupa Hansker Luger, Cassils, Eric Gottesman, Hank Willis Thomas, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, and Maia Ruth Lee.

“Listen Until You Hear invites us to look beyond the surface and practice deeper forms of listening that can lead towards greater awareness and connection to ourselves and the world around us,” said the artist Michelle Woo, who co-founded For Freedoms. “The exhibition explores themes ranging from freedom, family, love, pain, survival, and the future. Each artist’s distinct visual language and use of representation highlights the connections between meaning and value; historical and cultural storytelling; and our capacity to listen and hear what is at once physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual.“

Accompanying the exhibition’s artworks (which span the museum’s third floor) is a “Banned Book Reading Room,” which furthers the show’s themes while transporting visitors outside of the traditional art-viewing setting and into Fotografiska’s sixth-floor loft space, offering a welcoming array of plush seating beneath the building’s 130-year-old exposed beams. In this cozy reading environment, the public is invited to engage with a rotating selection of books that since 2021 have been banned in American school districts – including some within just 40 miles of the museum. These titles include multiple works by Toni Morrison, as well as Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner; an Amnesty International picture book on human rights; and many books perceived as ‘radical’ or ‘dangerous’ but often simply speak to the everyday experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals and people of color.