Hunia, video still from Permission to Be (2023), filmed at MacDowell. Image courtesy of the artist.
Marking the start of River Valley Arts Collective's fifth season of programming at the Al Held Foundation, we are pleased to present A cloak of red, slow as a Carpathian rock, an exhibition by Brigitta Váradi, curated by Marisa Espe.
Brigitta Váradi is a multimedia artist whose work explores the relationship between tradition, craft, and everyday rituals. Through research, experimentation, and labor-intensive processes, she investigates themes of material culture and sustainability. Váradi identifies unique customs of a particular community in order to honor under-acknowledged or vanishing traditions. For her exhibition with River Valley Arts Collective, Váradi will create new works inspired by her family’s heritage; re-animating memories of visiting her grandparents in a remote village in the Carpathian Mountains–long quiet walks, scents of wool and lard, and folk textiles in vivid colors. Váradi works with Hudson Valley-based farmers to source wool, thereby engaging regional labor and ecologies, and upholding her family’s values of resourcefulness and community.
April tour dates are now open, please sign up here. Dates for May and June will be released soon.