Exhibit Explores Environmental Challenges Through Art and Poetry

A new exhibition is coming soon to The Grace Museum that is sure to intrigue visitors! The Great Turning: We Gather, We Grow, We Tend is a two-person show with serious environmental themes and enormous impact.

Created by two women from Austin, visual artist Hollis Hammonds and poet Sasha West are a collaborative team known as Hammonds + West. Their unique installations combine sound with sculpture, video with drawings and words with images, creating a completely immersive gallery experience.

A multimedia artist, Hammonds investigates important social issues through her artwork, often depicting scenes of economic disparity, environmental degradation and human-made disasters. Her dystopian drawings and installations have been widely exhibited throughout the United States and featured in solo shows in Austin, Beaumont, Charleston and Cincinnati.

“Drawing has always been my first love,” Hammonds said. “I see it as a form of documentation, a way to preserve memory, to give value to mundane things through the act of carefully observing them.” Her perpetual interest in drawing commonplace items and sculpting with found objects stems from a traumatic real-life experience in her past. “I didn’t realize until years later that all of the work I had been making was referencing the piles of charred debris that were left after my childhood home burned to the ground when I was 15 years old.”

Hammonds continues to focus on themes of personal loss and object attachment in her artwork, making connections to the broader context of climate change.

An award-winning poet, West expertly weaves her poignant poetry into Hammonds’ visual pieces, creating a rich commentary that entices viewers to look longer, dig deeper and reflect more.

“Hollis and I have a great collaboration because we are interested in similar subjects and look at the world in similar ways,” West said. “We’re both obsessed with elements and ruins and what objects mean in our lives. We also have a real desire to hold people’s attention, to keep them in those challenging spaces through the presentation of beautiful things.”

Contrary to its serious subject matter, The Great Turning is an uplifting experience that offers a prevailing message of hope. It is meant to inspire viewers to see the valuable roles they play in nurturing a sustainable future, to foster a sense of unity and shared purpose. Just as these two artists combine their talents to create new work together, Hammonds + West encourage us to take collective action to build a more resilient and harmonious world – for everyone.

Don’t miss this exciting exhibition on view at The Grace Museum June 7 through Sept. 20. Hammonds and West will be in Abilene this summer for a free public reception and a special artist workshop, both hosted at the museum. You can find dates and details about these two special events at bit.ly/the-greatturning.

Contributed By The Grace Museum

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