Announcing the Alabama Triennial 2025: Currents

Opening: Friday, June 6, 5-7pm with performances by Celeste Pfau and Valerie George

The first of three artist panels presented in conjunction with the Triennial will take place the following day, Saturday, June 7 from 2-3:30pm. Loosely organized around themes of ancestry, family, community and narrative, this panel will include short presentations by Daphne Burgess, E L Chisolm, Soynika Edwards-Bush, Millian Giang Pham, Bethany Moody, Rial Rye and Jennifer Wallace Fields followed by a q&a moderated by curator bet Elliott.

Featuring work by 19 artists from across the state, the Alabama Triennial 2025: 𝘊𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 explores questions of place and identity. Through work that emphasizes movement, journey, mapping, exchange and transference, the exhibition complicates notions of Southern identity as something static or unitary, instead viewing it as a confluence of various currents, constantly in motion, made and remade in relation to what came before.

Currents are directional movement and energy. As natural phenomena in our oceans and atmosphere that gave rise to trade routes and transit corridors, they are reminders of the inextricability of history and culture from the material conditions of place. Yet they are also immaterial, invoking spiritual practices such as channeling, as well as the amalgamation of religious influences common in this region. As directional movement, currents call to mind lineages — of ancestry or heritage — as well as the belief systems that have shaped our environment and material existence. One question guiding this exhibition is: How do we position ourselves in relation to what we inherit?

Finally, although far from comprehensive, the Triennial is intended as a survey of current artistic practices in Alabama. It’s of a time and place washed ashore by the past, with one eye fixed on the horizon.

Artists:

• Douglas Pierre Baulos
• Daphne Burgess
• Merrilee Challiss
• E L Chisolm
• Soynika Edwards-Bush
• Valerie George
• Allison Grant
• Arielle Gray
• Darius Hill
• Helga Mendoza
• Micah Mermilliod
• Joe Minter
• Bethany Moody
• Celestia Morgan
• Miriam Omura
• Celeste Amparo Pfau
• Millian Giang Pham
• Rial Rye
• Jennifer Wallace Fields

The Alabama Triennial 2025 was curated by elizabet elliott, Executive Director of Alabama Contemporary Art Center in Mobile; Sydney A. Foster, Montgomery-based creative director and community architect; and AEIVA Curator Hannah Spears.