Imagine Repair Exhibition

During the last two years of the global Coronavirus pandemic, New Yorkers have suffered isolation and devastating loss, much of it caused by inequality and neglect. Yet through the restorative power of artistic collaboration and community, this exhibition dares to Imagine Repair.

How has the pandemic affected our lives? Where, in our bodies, do we carry the uncertainties, anxieties and fears it has provoked? Can we heal and grow together?

Following several months of workshops created by the Zip Code Memory Project, this exhibition offers a space in which we could listen to the voices and stories of New Yorkers and invites us to share our own. We could accompany each other in the work of remembering and grieving, in momentous and intimate instances of pain and of joy. The artists in this exhibition have searched for forms that convey their responsibility to bear witness to an extraordinary historical moment. They come together here to express a collective desire for renewed hope and a demand for transformative justice.

The exhibition Imagine Repair was on view at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine from April 23 to May 15, 2022. The exhibition was curated by Işın Önol, in conversations with multiple workshop participants, and assisted by Aya Labanieh and Yiğit Eygi.

Participating artists: Virginia Ayress | Birim Bademli | Kamal Badhey | Milagros Batista | Erachie Brown | Cathleen Campbell | Gabriella Canal | Maria José Contreras | Jordan Cruz | Yves Dossous | Leah Elimeliah | Yiğit Eygi | Judith Helfand | Chelsea Knight | Sonja Jean Killebrew | Seçil Koman | Candance Leslie | Sandra Long | Rafael Lozano-Hemmer | Susan Meiselas | Zahied Tony Mohammed | Jim Mutton | Lorie Novak | Desiree Rios | Ana-Ofelia Rodriguez | Eloísa Royal | Rafaelina Tineo | Carrie Mae Weems | Deborah Willis | Zip Code Memory Project Participants

Online Exhibitions

Listen to stories from the Lost New York Covid Story Map, a project conceived by Erachie Brown, Yves Dossous, Leah Elimeliah, Yiğit Eygi, and Sonja Jean Killebrew.
Visit and contribute to Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s A Crack in the Hourglass, An Ongoing Memorial for the Victims of Covid-19. Contributions become part of the work’s online archive at acrackinthehourglass.net. With thanks to the Brooklyn Museum.
Listen to the Depository of Anonymous Feelings, a project conceived by Chelsea Knight, with Sandra Long, Candance Leslie, and Zahied Tony Mohammed.