We are all searching for ways to locate ourselves as we move through the world. In the search for self, we point to places that ushered us into new knowledge. We point to moments and experiences that gave us deeper understanding. We point to the people who carved pathways for us to be where we are now. Finding the ways in which we locate self helps build our unique understanding of the world.

The basis of this exhibit is reciprocity in the relationships we have to the people and knowledge that help us self-locate through platforming their work. Every artist participating in this exhibit has played an important role in my life within the last ten years that has allowed me to better understand myself and my relationship to community.

By bringing together this group of artists who helped me learn, not only am I creating a way for you to better understand me, personally, but I am also creating a new moment of location for us to point to, collectively. The work comes together to be in relation with each other and with you in this specific place, at this specific time, and creates a new point of location we can use to understand ourselves and each other, manifested in the form of It Was Always Us!

Though the artists come from across the globe, I met each of them while living between Oklahoma and Arkansas. They come from expansive understandings of the world that is reflected in the work you can find in this exhibit. In search of myself, I found these visual artists, performance artists, musicians, writers, jewelers, and chefs. In search of myself, I found that it was always us.

Thank you for being here and supporting.

Wado nigadv,
Kalyn Fay Barnoski