The Way You Want It

2024 SHIFT Residency Exhibition

June 13 - July 27, 2024
Opening Reception: June 13, 6:30-8:30 PM

Please note: The gallery will be closed on Wednesday, June 19 in observation of Juneteenth, and Thursday, July 4 in observation of Independence Day.

Artists
Darlene Deloris
Mari Claudia García
Sonja John
Sira Marissa Lewis
Carson Parish
Daniel Samaniego

Curator: Rebecca Pristoop
Assistant Curator: Annabelle Oates

“What's the world for if you can't make it up the way you want it?”

-Violet, in Toni Morrison's Jazz, 1992

“Nostalgia, in its ability to facilitate continuity of identity, can help to provide a sanctuary of meaning—a place where one feels she knows herself; where identity has safe harbor.”

-Janelle L. Wilson, Nostalgia: Sanctuary of Meaning, 2014 

Nostalgia is commonly associated with bittersweet memories and a deep sense of longing for the past. Objects often serve as time capsules for these feelings. The six artists in The Way You Want It utilize these conjured feelings to create new objects that feel familiar, yet expand to accommodate their particular and multifaceted identities. 

Darlene Deloris, Mari Claudia García, Sonja John, Sira Marissa Lewis, Carson Parish, and Daniel Samaniego mine personal, cultural, and familial histories as they intentionally fabricate spaces and communities of belonging. Utilizing a multitude of art forms such as painting, video, photography, drawing, and process based work, each artist presents projects that not only transcend time but explore new futures. 

These acts of creation have developed in a unique environment, that of the SHIFT Residency, which provides shared studio and mentoring opportunities for arts workers to advance their creative processes. The residency in itself met each artist as a past version of themselves, looking to devote more time and energy into their practices. While the root of each artists’ praxis exists within a sense of longing, their new works define secure frameworks for liberated futures. Exhibiting these works together furthers this future building momentum and welcomes the merging of different perspectives and communities.

Public Programs:

Opening Reception and Conversation with SHIFT Artists and Exhibition Curators

Thursday, June 13, 6:30-8:30 PM

Join us for an opening reception of the exhibition and conversation with SHIFT artists and exhibition curators, organized by Sonja John and Sira Marissa Lewis.

In person at EFA Project Space
323 W 39th St, New York, NY 10018
Free and open to the public.

Exquisite Stories, Endless Portraits Workshop organized by Darlene Deloris & Daniel Samaniego

Wednesday, July 10, 6:30-8:30 PM

EFA Project Space Shift Artists in Residence Darlene Deloris and Daniel Samaniego invite participants to an artmaking workshop rooted in collaboration, experimentation, and self-reflection. Drawing on the histories of the Surrealist Exquisite Corpse parlor game and its timeless embrace of artistic partnership, shared authorship, and element of surprise, individuals will co-create a portrait, merging artistic styles and material activations.

In person at EFA Project Space
323 W 39th St, New York, NY 10018
Free and open to the public.

Catalog Launch and Culminating Event organized by Mari Claudia García & Carson Parish

Wednesday, July 24, 6:30-8:30 PM

Join us for the launch of the 2024 SHIFT Exhibition Catalog alongside public programming collaboratively organized by SHIFT Residents Mari Claudia García and Carson Parish.

In person at EFA Project Space
323 W 39th St, New York, NY 10018
Free and open to the public.

Installation Images by Argenis Apolinario

MATERIALS

Press Release

Checklist

Artists’ and Curator’s Bios

Catalog (PDF)