a small ocean swallowed

a small ocean swallowed brings together artworks that embody a sense of ecological entwinement, poetically and experimentally reorienting human relationships to water. The exhibition features work by six intergenerational and international feminist artists: Sholeh Asgary, Patricia Belli, Kiyo Gutierrez, Jessie Homer French, Erin Jane Nelson, and Sunaura Taylor. Enmeshing their bodies in wetlands and waterways, the artists engage with and respond to the material, sociopolitical, and cultural histories of specific rivers, oceans, aquifers, swamps, and aqueducts. The included works grieve lives lost across species due to human interventions into earth’s waterways and honor paths of resistance and healing enacted by humans individually and collectively. Presented in conjunction with SJMA’s Sowing Sustainability Initiative, the exhibition celebrates water as a model of interconnectivity and nourishes possibilities for responsibility and repair. 

SJMA’s Sowing Sustainability Initiative is a cross-institutional effort rooted in the belief that caring for the planet is a central part of caring for the Museum’s visitors, community, and collections. SJMA is committed to integrating climate-conscious choices into exhibitions, programs, and operations and is working together with artists, community partners, educators, and a staff green team to contribute to a more sustainable future for all. 

Support

a small ocean swallowed is made possible by the SJMA Exhibitions Fund. 

Operations and programs at the San José Museum of Art are made possible by principal support from SJMA’s Board of Trustees, and a Cultural Affairs Grant from the City of San José and the Skyline Foundation; by lead support from the Lipman Family Foundation, the Adobe Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Toby and Barry Fernald, Tad Freese and Brook Hartzell, the Richard A. Karp Charitable Foundation, Tammy and Tom Kiely, Yvonne and Mike Nevens, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Teiger Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and the SJMA Director's Council and Council of 100; and with significant endowment support from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and the San José Museum of Art Endowment Fund established by the Knight Foundation at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.