East City Art Reviews: You, if no one else & The More Things Change
East City Art Reviews: You, if no one else & The More Things Change at Arlington Arts Center
By Wade Carey on March 14, 2018
The current exhibition at Arlington Arts Center titled You, if no one else. As an exhortation, the phrase comes from a poem by Tino Villanueva included in his collection, Chronicle of My Worst Years. The poem urges victims and witnesses of destitution and oppression to “put your voice where your memory is,” and to tell how the spirit of rebellion enables ways to “unlearn the lessons of that teacher, your land’s omnipotent defiler.” The show presents a spectrum of examples of political expression intertwined with works of art. The exhibition was curated by Karyn Miller, who served as Director of Exhibitions at AAC until November of last year. She has since moved to a position as Public Space Activation Curator for the District of Columbia’s Golden Triangle Business Improvement District. In her catalog notes, Ms. Miller tells us that, “planning for this exhibition began with a curiosity about the imprint a Trump presidency will have on artistic expression.”
