While We Are Here

About

While We Are Here brings together the uniquely varied responses of five artists whose life paths brought them through the Pacific Northwest at some point in their life – Angelica Trimble-Yanu, Joseph Rodriguez, Kanani Miyamoto, Matt Perez, and Palmarin Merges. In the midst of a global pandemic and shelter-in-place orders, these artists persevered in finding a way to continue their respective art practices whether through utilizing household materials, reusing previous footage, seeing the world as their studio, and more. One of the featured artists, Palmarin Merges, states it well when she writes that she adapted “restriction as a generative force for creation.” 

Through a variety of mediums – printmaking, video, sculpture, and installation – these artists’ pursue a wide range of inquiries relating to cultural identity, familial legacies, ancestral epistemologies, and sustainable art practices. Each artist responds individually to the collective moment we find ourselves in, questioning what we can do as artists for future generations while we are here.