The Landscape of Our Minds

2.3.2023—4.16.2023

Laconia Gallery
433 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02118
First Fridays 6-8 PM
Sundays 1-4 PM
Opening Reception February 3, 2023
Curated by Yolanda He Yang


The Landscape of Our Minds brings together a diverse group of artworks by frontline staff from ICA/Boston, deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum, MIT List Visual Arts Center, MIT Museum, Peabody Essex Museum, MFA, Boston, Montserrat College of Art Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, and Leica Gallery, Boston.

Showcasing a myriad of mediums, including painting, sculpture, installation, music, film, and various gallery programs, the exhibition delves into how the perception of time differs for the frontline staff, allowing the overlapped, multi-dimensional worlds of each individual to unfold in a physical setting.

Looking closely at the objects that make up an art institution, artists offer zoomed-in views and private gallery observations. Stephen Holness, who works at MFA, Boston, highlights the forgotten utilitarian objects in the museum—Valves. These forgotten utilitarian objects in the museum share similarities with the frontline staff—necessary but often are overlooked. Visitor Assistant from the ICA/Boston, Ashley Cristiano, draws the artist’s reflection of the jumbled thought processes when Cristiano stands still in the galleries with her circulating thought. For Cristiano, standing still only increases the multitude and power of thoughts. In Artist Parker Kerrigan’s The Bleeding and Blurring of Versailles, a resin-coated print, it takes a stereoscope slide of a hall in Versailles and contorts into unrecognizability. The painting replicates the feeling of disassociation that museum staff can feel during long hours.

The highly-demanded presence of the frontline staff often creates a crispy collision between their public and private presentation. Artist Will Weygint, a gallery staff from Montserrat College of Art, introduces the psychological condition known as Stewardess Syndrome. In Weygint’s painting, the artist reflects that museum workers and hospitality have a lot of overlapping scenarios where they are confronted with challenging consumers and are pressured to present positive emotions, despite feeling internal stress. Likewise, in Earthworms’ painting titled afab—assigned female at birth—the artist brings up complicated feelings about identity and presentation to the public. The artworks that come from various museums’ staff seek to facilitate a different relationship between the artists and the audience in a setting that is not unfamiliar, further revealing the complexity of these individuals.

Featured Artists

Ashley Cristiano
BARD
Brett Angell
Christina M. Tedesco
Earthwurms
Elisabeth Gerald
Emily Falcigno
Jackson Boerner
Jarrod White
Jeannie Dale
Jonathan Talit
Katelyn Leaird
Kayla Scullin
Leighah Scully
Liam Coughlin
Liam Joseph Mahoney
Maria Servellon
Mariana Rey
Melissa Gutierrez
Parker Kerrigan
Patrick Brennan
Ryan Ricci
Stephen Holness
Will Weygint
Willow Machado

Public Program Schedule