The D.R.A.W. Hosts First Exhibition at New MAD Gallery

The D.R.A.W. is hosting its inaugural show, “Masking Identities: Rebuilding Deterritorialized Cultural Memories” by Kingston artist Marielena Ferrer, through September 30 at Energy Square, 20 Cedar Street. The exhibition at the new MAD/The D.R.A.W. location features Ferrer’s paintings, wire sculptures and an artist’s book.

Ferrer moved to Kingston in 2011 after living in Spain for a decade. She is originally from Venezuela and says: “I am among the migrants who worked to adjust to life here in the United States. Many migrants struggle with this. We struggle with balancing the new society’s ways of life with our original values and traditions. We have to decide how to act based on who we are, who we were and who we want to become.”

“For those of us living far from our places of origin,” Ferrer says, “creating colorful expressions of art can help preserve our personal and cultural identities while maintaining a bond to the lives we knew. It also lets us explore, decide, declare, express, experience and question ideas about our identities over time.”

Migrant Culture: Suspended Between Two Worlds

“The irony of planning this installation while sheltering in place has not escaped me,” adds Ferrer. “It’s ironic because migrant culture always involves feelings of being in transit, suspended between two worlds.”

Those worlds are the migrant’s place of origin and new place of residence.

“One of the remarkable things about the United States is that nearly all our families originally came from someplace else. Immigration is part of our national DNA and something we can all take pride in,” says Lara Giordano, executive director of The D.R.A.W. “Immigration makes this exhibition by Marielena so meaningful to so many people.”

Giordano adds, “These works reflect both this extraordinary time of the pandemic—when we’re all struggling—and the timeless struggles people endure when they move to a new way of life in the hope of improving their lives.”

The exhibition will be visible through MAD’s large, ground-floor windows and tours of the show are available by appointment only due to the pandemic. Visitors will be required to wear masks and social-distance to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New York State Department of Health.

For more information or to request a viewing, call 845-633-0815, write to info@drawkingston.org or visit https://www.drawkingston.org/ferrer.