“The Soul Is a Wanderer is the 2023 edition of the Oklahoma Contemporary ArtNow biennial exhibition, highlighting new and recent art from a selection of artists active in the state.

Thirteen cross-generational artists come together in this exhibition organized by Tulsa-based guest curator Lindsay Aveilhé. The Soul Is a Wanderer takes its title from a line in the poem A Map to the Next Worldby 2019-2022 United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (b. 1951, Tulsa; Muscogee Nation). The artists draw inspiration from the poem’s call to remember the past as we journey beyond the present by unearthing complex histories and imagining alternate routes toward emancipatory futures of our making.

Through distinct perspectives and approaches, the painting, sculpture, video, installation, performance, photography and ceramics in the exhibition capture moments of passage, reckoning and renewal. Together, the works in The Soul Is a Wanderer evoke the landscape of Oklahoma — its topography and our shared reality — as a site for questioning, dreaming and action.”

OKContemporary