FOFA's annual Undergraduate Student Exhibition (USE 2023)

The exhibition An Anatomy of Apocalyptic Care explores a question we have collectively been grappling with since the beginning of the pandemic; what are the forms of caregiving that will nurture our future? From mourning access to a physical space in 2021 to slowly re-emerging in 2022 to run at full capacity in 2023, USE 2023 is the last chapter of a trilogy.

The first volume, Imagined Topography, stemmed from uncertainty, grief, emotional excavation, and collective attempts to ground oneself through out-of-body place-making, while the second, The Sum of Our Shared Selves, focused on the artists’ internal dialogues activated by external forces. And finally, this last volume embraces the potentialities found in disruption. The exhibition title, An Anatomy of Apocalyptic Care exposes a refusal to passively descend into the dreadfulness surrounding us, rather it points to seeded growth and transformation perduring despite ongoing grief and societal ruptures.

Featuring the works of twelve artists, this exhibition prompts visitors to seek alternative definitions of our current and future circumstances. Each story is part of a communal metaphorical body, moving forward one step at a time.