The New Bedford Art Museum presents the Shape of Who We Are: Exploring Identity, a juried showcase curated by Marcelle Joseph, an independent curator and collector.

Identity can connect us to our origins or inspire transformation. In Shape of Who We Are, artists from across the globe explore how identity is formed, expressed, and reimagined through race, gender, class, culture, and personal history. These works invite us to reflect on what we choose to carry forward, what we leave behind, and the infinite ways we might become.

Juror Statement:

“In this climate of geopolitical chaos, environmental crises, trade wars and populist post-woke political agendas that are stripping people of their rights, in particular, those folks marginalized by their gender choices, this open call exhibition could not have come at a better time. For this exhibition that explores identity, I selected works that tell a story about each artist and their unique origins, whether it be a Korean boy who was adopted at birth by an American family, a Black Irish woman grappling with her double diaspora or a person who was born in the wrong body. The viewer will be treated to a panoply of narratives that both celebrate the artists’ own gender, race and class as well as critique the societal norms that declare them ‘other’. Given that these histories are rooted in a lived bodily experience, I chose artworks with meaning embedded in their materiality – from textiles and ceramics to paintings and sculptures. I hope that this exhibition raises the visibility of queer and trans people, highlights the non-hierarchical relationship between humans and nature, tells long-erased accounts of the Great Migration through Black ancestral memory, raises awareness of the immigrant experience in the United States, exposes the myriad expressions of non-toxic masculinity across the gender and racial spectrum, and calls attention to the ongoing struggle for women’s equality. We all need to be social justice and environmental warriors. I hope that this exhibition spurs the viewer on to realizing what an important role they can play in changing social constructions that have appeared fixed for decades and even centuries.”

– Marcelle Joseph, Independent Curator and Collector