Paradigm Gallery in collaboration with The Jaunt presents “Closer to Home”. The exhibition showcases the work of 10 artists who made a Jaunt trip during the pandemic and traveled to a destination closer to home. From Sri Lanka to Denmark, from Oregon to New Zealand, from Australia to Tasmania, from Sweden to Alaska, and from The Netherlands to Haida Gwaii.
At the height of the pandemic, the world around us got a lot smaller. We confined ourselves to our home, state or country. As a project like The Jaunt, that sends artists all over the world to find inspiration, it was a time of recalibration. In one way, it became even more important to provide opportunities to artists and put them in new surroundings. In another way, it became impossible to continue in the same way.
When crossing international borders become increasingly difficult, due to travel restrictions, we were forced to look within the artists own country. In conversation with our artists we were able to find a lot of interesting destinations that were close to home, and in some instances in their own backyard, figuratively speaking. This new situation gave us the biggest learning of this pandemic. We have been conditioned to find destinations on the other side of the world, while there is still so much to explore closer to home. Going forward we want to treasure this learning and find a better balance between exploring the other side of the world, but also our own backyard.
The exhibition features artists Ricky Lee Gordon, KC Ortiz, Lisa Congdon , Jason Woodside,Kyle Hughes-Odgers, Jordy van den Nieuwendijk, Linnéa Andersson, Anna Valdez, B.D. Graft and Scott Sueme. It is ongoing through January 16, 2022.
