Velvet Faith, curated by Emily Edwards, features artists EJ Hill and Martin Gonzales and includes works created on-site during their month-long residency, alongside new sculptures and paintings.

Velvet Faith explores the dynamics of community, emphasizing trust and faith as foundational elements. The show serves as a trust fall for both artists, who come together to create new work in a collaborative process, embracing the unknown of what emerges. In this exploration, they investigate how creating artwork can help assert and reclaim space typically denied to certain groups and individuals, highlighting the crucial importance of feeling worthy in a world that often refuses to see them fully. Their practices reflect a deep need to engage with the world. Despite their differing backgrounds—Hill’s rooted in durational performance and Gonzales’ in sculpture—their practices converge in a shared desire to honor improvisation as a tool within survival and liberation frameworks.

This exhibition invites viewers to come home—whatever or wherever that might be. Together, Hill and Gonzales celebrate the hard work of being soft, the power of living one’s truth, and the journey toward self-determination.