Artists have long used their practice to cope with, confront, and tease out traumas and fears. Exposure Therapy presents the ways that art can soothe our anxieties, from the existential to the mundane. Presenting a range of artwork and mediums, the exhibition features work that confronts, braves, and, ultimately, consoles our unease.
Within the exhibition are themes relating to the paranormal and the unknown in addition to haunting reminders of mortality and corporeality. Deeply personal work relating to war, displacement, and post-traumatic stress disorder present examples of the therapeutic nature of artistic expression. Contemporary fears and traumas, those that manifest in the never-ending queue of breaking news alerts, are confronted as well.
While the topics within Exposure Therapy may feel overwhelming, they are presented with the belief that art can provide us with the tools we need to endure the trials and stressors of our lived realities. The work in the exhibition aims to find the beauty in the grotesque, the light at the end of the tunnel, and an embrace of the unknown.
