Rough Gems 2022 - Exhibition 2

Rough Gems is an annual open call and collaborative curatorial project at Union Hall. The goal of this ambitious rotating exhibition series is to showcase local curatorial and artistic talent by turning over Union Hall’s gallery space to emerging curators, inviting them to share an exhibition in an active and experimental environment and providing them tangible support in the form of time, space, mentorship, and funds. With Rough Gems, Union Hall hopes to impact the lives of emerging artists and curators with a platform for exhibition that is inclusive, supportive, and committed to the artists we serve by paying them for exhibitions and performances.

Curated by Brook Vann and A. Grix

February 24 - March 19, 2022

The exhibition Virga is a collaborative curatorial project based on a relationship between selected artists’ work and the meteorological phenomena of the Virga Cloud. Virga clouds are diagonal streaks of precipitation that are visible in the sky but are not felt on the ground. This moisture exists below clouds, and above the surface of the earth. Just as these clouds hold rain of the future, José Estaban Muñoz describes queerness as hope located in the sky. He writes of potential or something that has not yet arrived; however “we can feel it as the warm illumination of a horizon imbued with potentiality.” We view the in-between space as a place where our current movements are focused on the transition towards the future. Our selected works embody paths and deviations, transitions and transformations, creative changes that are vital for feelings of hope much like the potential rain in a Virga cloud. This exhibition will showcase the following artists: Dāa Guy-Vasson, Larí García, Judith Leinen, Martha Russo, and Noa Fodrie.