Sojourner
Inaugural Exhibition – Selection by Open Call
Group exhibition at Sojourner Gallery, New York
Opening Reception : Thursday, February 9, 2023, from 6 PM to 9 PM
Exhibition : From February 9 to March 15, 2023
Adress : Sojourner Gallery, 446 West 34th Street, 4e étage, New York, NY 10001
Curator :
Kyoko Sato
Exhibited artists:
Andrew Chan, Arlene Rush, Chihiro ITO, China Blue, Chin Chih Yang, Ebenezer Singh, Egon Zippel, Franck Saïssi, Isolde Kille, Joseph Ayers, Joseph Fraia, Kate Fauvell, Kenji Kojima, Lilia Ziamou, Lily Kostrzewa, Loy Luo, Max Fujishima, Michele Brody, Nina Sobell, Ola Rondiak, Richard Rothenberg, Sadie Bridger, Seth Ellison, Taiyo Okamoto, Takuya Sugiyama, Tom Judd, Toshiki Hayasaka, William Evertson, Yoyo Xiao, Yuji Hamamura, Yukari Edamitsu, Zhang Lanjun, Zhang Zheyi
SOJOURNER celebrates the opening of a new exhibition space in New York, located just steps from Hudson Yards at 446 West 34th Street.
This inaugural exhibition, resulting from an international call for entries, was designed to highlight artists from around the world, united around a universal theme: that of passage, displacement, and the search for belonging.
Sojourner (n.) – Temporary resident, passing traveler, stranger staying for a while in a place.
— Webster’s Dictionary
Art, Migration, and Resilience
The history of art in New York has been written largely thanks to artists from elsewhere: De Kooning, Dalí, Duchamp, Mekas, Yoko Ono, Yayoi Kusama.
These “sojourners” have shaped an artistic landscape in perpetual mutation, where migration becomes a source of identity exploration and aesthetic renewal.
Inspired by this history, the exhibition explores contemporary forms of exile, resilience, and creation: social crises, inequalities, environment, gender, institutional violence… Each artwork offers a personal, often intimate, perspective on these themes.
Finally, the exhibition pays tribute to the iconic figure of Sojourner Truth, a 19th-century African-American activist and former slave who became a major voice for civil rights and gender equality.
Her name, adopted by NASA’s first Mars rover in 1996, continues to symbolize the quest for truth, justice, and exploration beyond borders.