In this group exhibition, curator and artist ahuva sz, brought together thirteen artists who turn to the fundamental and unglamorous material at our feet: the earth. Working with clay means manipulating geological time—shaping a material formed through the weathering of the planet itself. In this show, clay was liberated from the pedestal and returned to its roots.
The artists in the show used these raw materials in unconventional, experimental ways. The clay manifested as a mound of dirt and metal armatures binding raw clay; it was printed and pressed into paper; it mimicked a ceramic topographical map; and even invited visitors to crawl onto a dirt mound to move a mountain.
Clay marks the transition from nomadic lifestyles to settled civilizations, anchoring us to place. The exhibition space was staged to mimic a metaphorical town square—a historic site of collective gathering and shared human experience. The square functioned as an active laboratory for slowness and solidarity, and featured installation-based works that invited the audience to directly engage.
To plod is to move slowly, heavily, and with deliberate effort. In our contemporary moment, this labor feels universal. We find ourselves wading through the dense realities of societal fatigue, systemic struggle, and individual precarity. Mud is a site of struggle, yes—it slows us down. But mud is also where things take root. It represents a radical return to basics, a humbling reminder of our interdependence, and a testament to human resilience. We do not want to plod alone. We want to gather, sustain one another, and keep moving—achieving this solidarity through workshops, readings, shared dining, making, conversing, or simply taking a pause to hang out in the square.
Building 5, Portland, OR
July 9–26, 2026
Turning Earth
My installation for IAPTM, Turning Earth, functioned equally as an artwork, an active studio, and an evolving display. The sculpted space resembled a hybrid research lab, kitchen, and craft room where industrial, foraged, and quotidian materials rested in a state of change. Each component connected to the history of northwest Portland’s Slabtown—a neighborhood transformed from a wetland to a place where Chinese immigrants grew vegetables, and—at the turn of the century—to an industrial zone filled with lumber and brick yards.
Visiting from Chicago, I continued to work within the installation throughout the run of the exhibition. Impermanent and alive, the arrangements evolved as I added newly collected objects and wool dyed with local plants, affirming that change is our only constant.