Sojourner

SOJOURNER

INAUGURAL JURIED EXHIBITION

OPENING RECEPTION: FEBRUARY 9, 6-9PM
EXHIBITION: FEBRUARY 9 – MARCH 15, 2023
SOJOURNER GALLERY | 446 West 34th Street, 4th Fl, New York, NY 10001
Curated by Kyoko Sato

Artists:

After four years of diligence

We are pleased to announce the opening of the new gallery space SOJOURNER,
located next to Hudson Yards, at 446 West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001, in addition to the one on 178
Bleecker Street, NYC.
As an opening exhibition, we are holding an open call, offering chances for world wide artists to submit their
proposals. This inaugural juried exhibition titled SOJOURNER, curated by Kyoko Sato, juried with the team of the
gallery, will be held from February 9 to March 15, 2023 with the opening reception on Thursday, February 9, 2023,
6-9pm.
SOJOURNER (n.) – a temporary resident; a stranger or traveler who dwells in a place for a time. —Webster’s
Dictionary

Globalization

Allows space for belonging. According to the US census, indeed, 36% of New York City’s population
is foreign-born. One can be a sojourner, and be a permanent resident in this capital of the art world. The New York
art scene has been greatly influenced by such sojourners, who have significantly contributed to art history.

The center of art

Shifted from Europe to New York when preeminent artists moved West during the Second World
War, namely Willem De Kooning (the Netherlands, 1904 -1997), Salvador Dali ( Spain, 1904-1989) in 1934, Marcel
Duchamp (France, 1887-1968) in 1942, Jonas Mekas (Lithuania, 1922- 2019) in 1949, George Maciunas (Lithuania,
1931-1978) in late 1940s, Yoko Ono (Japan, 1933- ) in 1953, and Yayoi Kusama (Japan, 1929- ) in 1958, who
stayed until 1973.
Incomprehensible devastation caused by WWII triggered these sojourners to reconsider not only where they
belonged, but what belonged on their canvases.

As a result

Abstract Expressionism was born, a rejection of the
traditional, the rational, the same, in exchange for an intangible expression of feeling. What world exists, or can
exist, when it is no longer recognizable, when it doesn’t feel like yours? To stay is not an option; one must go
beyond, if just for a little while, to find new truths, or to be the origin of them.
From Latin origins, “Sojourner” has biblical connotations, as is the case for abolitionist

Sojourner Truth

(1797-1883). Born Isabella Baumfree into slavery in the Dutch-speaking Ulster County, New York, she was sold
four times, and enslaved for 28 years. Truth sojourned as a traveling preacher, leading the women’s rights
movement, and becoming the first African American woman to win a lawsuit in the United States. In 1843, she
changed her name to Sojourner Truth, with the belief that her religious obligation was to go forth and speak truth.

Her legacy

Speaks to origin and future; her namesake was adopted for NASA’s first wheeled vehicle, a rover sent
to Mars on December 4, 1996 on a mission called The Mars Pathfinder. While the rover was sojourning on the
planet, it used instruments to study what the Martian rocks first were made of.
Sojourners may be found in every aspect of our world and beyond, leaving as quickly as they arrive. In search of
something new, they might find belonging, or they might create a space in which they belong. In this case, we
might consider ourselves sojourners: We are born on Earth, we stay for a brief time, and we return.