Opening Reception Friday, May 17, 5 – 7 pm
Caledonia Curry, aka Swoon, has had one of the most exceptional careers of any woman artist. The daughter of parents addicted to heroin, her childhood was filled with trauma. Swoon found peace and healing through her art practice, which was the one thing that anchored her throughout her tumultuous life. Swoon has train-hopped, created cashless communities that sailed down the Mississippi in a handmade art raft, and literally crashed the Venice Biennale by sailing across the Adriatic and into the Grand Canal. Her work is gritty and true to her evolution on the streets of Brooklyn, though now Swoon counts the Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, and countless other museums internationally as homes for her artworks. Turner Carroll’s own Tonya Turner Carroll curated Swoon’s exhibition at the Mesa Museum of Contemporary Art, part of a comprehensive social justice exhibition series that included Shepard Fairey, Apache artist Douglas Miles, and other well-known street artists. Swoon also enjoys a remarkable midcareer retrospective at the Taubman Museum of Art; quite a remarkable achievement for an artist not yet 50 years old, to enjoy a retrospective museum exhibition.