Raven Chacon and Diana Al-Hadid Come to Hermitage in May

The Hermitage Artist Retreat has announced “Visualizing Culture” on Thursday, May 23 at 6:30pm, presented on the Hermitage Beach. This special program features returning Hermitage Fellow and internationally acclaimed visual artist Diana Al-Hadid, whose work is currently on display at the Sarasota Art Museum as part of Impact: Contemporary Artists at the Hermitage Artist Retreat. She will be joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning Hermitage Fellow Raven Chacon, a celebrated composer, performer, and installation artist from Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation, alongside Candice Hopkins, a citizen of Carcross/Tagish First Nation whose curated exhibitions have traveled across the country and around the world. All three of these impressive creators will share insights into their groundbreaking processes and perspectives on the contemporary arts landscape. 

A Syrian-born American artist, Diana Al-Hadid examines the historical frameworks and perspectives that continue to shape discourse on culture and materials today. With a practice spanning sculpture, wall reliefs, and works on paper, Al-Hadid weaves together enigmatic narratives that draw inspiration from both ancient and modern civilizations. Her work is currently on view through July 7 at the Sarasota Art Museum as part of Impact: Contemporary Artists at the Hermitage Artist Retreat, featuring ten Hermitage Fellows, including Hermitage Greenfield Prize winners Sanford Biggers and Trenton Doyle Hancock, and curated by Hermitage National Curatorial Council member Dan Cameron. Impact is one of two Hermitage alumni exhibitions on display at the museum, with Hermitage collaborators Anne Patterson and Patrick Harlin's The Truth of the Night Sky on view through September 29.

As a solo performer, collaborator, and a member of Postcommodity from 2009 to 2018, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and Hermitage Fellow Raven Chacon has exhibited, performed, or had works performed at venues, museums, and galleries around the world, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Borealis Festival in Seattle, Vancouver Art Gallery, Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Adding insight and nuance to the conversation is Hermitage Fellow Candice Hopkins, whose curated exhibitions have been on view in such prestigious venues as the Venice Biennale, Toronto Biennial, and the National Gallery of Canada.