“An Artist’s Duty” Exhibition at Woo Studios

Algún día caerá, 2022, 15:33, digital video, color

Cruces, 2024, 3:15, digital video, b&w

“Woo Studios (formerly the Woodbury School of Architecture), a project of Studio Culture, is proud to host “An Artist’s Duty,” a bold and timely group exhibition amplifying voices of historically excluded artists from the region, produced by the xikanx collective. This exhibit is inspired by Nina Simone’s declaration that “an artist’s duty is to reflect the times” in which we live.

The exhibition features around 100 artists and performers whose work confronts the current political climate–ICE raids and abductions, ecological collapse, dismantling of the Education Department, attacks on freedom of expression, regression of civil rights, economic instability, and rise of U.S. isolationism and authoritarianism.

This exhibition takes on even greater urgency given the current anti-immigrant climate in San Diego and across the nation. “An Artist’s Duty” is not just a show—it is intentionally creating a safe space for truth-telling, resistance, collective healing, and for community-building. It is bringing together the voices of San Diego’s most marginalized and impacted communities, and it is doing so with intention, presence, hope, and art to shape and shift our current atmosphere.”