A Natural Turn features the work of four artists living in the Americas: María Berrío (Colombian, b. 1982), Joiri Minaya (Dominican-United Statesian, b. 1990), Rosana Paulino (Brazilian, b. 1967), and Kelly Sinnapah Mary (Indo-Guadeloupean, b. 1981). Pushing the boundaries of figuration, Berrío, Minaya, Paulino, and Sinnapah create bold and unforgettable images of truth and fiction within both personal and collective histories. Their works exist at the intersection of individual imagination and our shared natural, socio- and geopolitical landscapes—a unique space that mixes both beauty and violence at once.

Surrealism of “traditional" art history is often associated with male artists from Western Europe who sought to challenge aesthetic norms by unleashing the power of dreams and unconscious desires to challenge our ordinary perception. Though it often relied on narrow, patriarchal views about gender and sexuality, surrealism still presents itself as a useful and radical strategy for contemporary artists. Within A Natural Turn, Berrío, Minaya, Paulino, and Sinnapah question Western and Eurocentric standards of beauty, femininity, and womanhood by reimagining the surreal—creating imaginary journeys around the metamorphoses of the body and redefining what it means to be human. For these artists, surreal imagery is useful in that it can at once call attention to the conflicted legacies of imperialism and colonialism, challenge the status quo, and subvert one's experience of reality. Surrealism within this exhibition is a means to interrogate structures of power. A Natural Turn pushes beyond borders—those defined by geography, nationality, or language—to expand our understanding of the real and the imagined. 


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Krista Franklin (American, b. 1970) creates books, poetry, collages, handmade paper, installations, murals, performances, sound works, sculptures, and lectures. Solo(s): Krista Franklin draws on the artist’s vast range of materials and references, situated at the intersection of poetics, popular culture, and the dynamic histories of the African Diaspora. Often referring  to the performance of a single musician, the exhibition’s title, ​Solo(s) is instead guided by the artist’s commitment to collaboration with fellow artists, writers, and musicians. As a political gesture, Franklin appropriates text and images from vintage magazine articles and other printed matter that she collects. The very act of collaging––cutting, pasting, and juxtaposing––puts Franklin’s works in direct conversation with the materials of other photographers and writers,  transporting her to the time of their original publication. 

Influenced by the  “AfroSurreal Manifesto” (2009), written by poet D. Scot Miller, Franklin’s approaches to making are always mystical, metaphorical, and metaphysical, particularly her spiritual learnings and ideas about the paranormal, gender and sexual identity, and the surreal nature of black and brown experiences. This exhibition brings together for the first time  the artist’s “cover art” collages, made for books and vinyl records. Long term projects like Library of Love (2013–present) showcase her love of the literary, themes of domesticity and interiority, self-reflection, the emotional, sensual, and private. Sculptures like …voyage whose chartings are unlove. (2012/2021) and collages like Developing Black (2019) address the African Diaspora. Franklin offers viewers opportunities to rewrite experiences, often placing Black women at the center. In her own words: “What has the body latched onto to make sense of the experiences scratched into it, and how can we facilitate release?”