IN A DREAM YOU SAW A WAY TO SURVIVE AND YOU WERE FULL OF JOY

Titled after a text by Jenny Holzer, IN A DREAM YOU SAW A WAY TO SURVIVE AND YOU WERE FULL OF JOY features works by eight female artists—Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Adriana Corral, Ellie Ga, Juliana Huxtable, Tala Madani, Danielle McKinney, Wendy Red Star, and Clare Rojas. The exhibition addresses a range of issues facing our society today, as the artworks on view critically evaluate intersections of narrative, identity, and power. 

The evocative title, taken from Holzer’s series Survival (1983–85), tells a story of possibility and implies critical questions for thinking about the artworks gathered for this project: Who, under what conditions, must struggle to survive? What does survival look like for individuals and communities? And, how might the tools of our imaginations help us to find joy and collectively reshape the conditions of our society? As Holzer’s text suggests, the featured artists both acknowledge societal inequities and envision pathways toward a new and better future. Confronting identity and history in ways informed by feminism and other political thought, their works evaluate systems that suppress and exclude those whose lives are not privileged within the dominant patriarchal power structure, even as they create space for new forms of representation. 

Dreams can offer sources of inspiration, motivating us to change the circumstances of our lives. Similarly, storytelling and other approaches to narrative forms offer ways of examining and affecting reality. Employing these strategies of the imagination, the artworks in this exhibition offer refuge from systems of oppression and present vital perspectives that may help us to unsettle those systems. Reflecting on the social and historical conditions underpinning our ways of being in the world, the featured artists inspire us to tell new stories about who we are and what is possible for each of us. In this way, they invite us to imagine more equitable, joyful futures.  

In conjunction with the exhibition and in collaboration with the artist, The Contemporary Austin has unveiled a new public mural of Holzer’s IN A DREAM… text on the museum’s downtown building façade. In addition, the exhibition features a new augmented reality work by artist Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, which the museum commissioned in partnership with Meta Open Arts, as well as a new outdoor sculpture commission by Clare Rojas for the Laguna Gloria sculpture park. 

IN A DREAM YOU SAW A WAY TO SURVIVE AND YOU WERE FULL OF JOY is curated by Robin K. Williams, Curator, with Julie Le, Assistant Curator, The Contemporary Austin.  

Media contacts
press [​at​] thecontemporaryaustin.org 

Jillian Scott, THIRD EYE, jillian [​at​] hellothirdeye.com, T 212 355 9009 
Caresse Sassman, Giant Noise, caresse.sassman [​at​] giantnoise.com, T 512 382 9017 (O)/817 235 1315 (C)