REAL / HEAL (January 9 - February 6, 2025)

REAL/HEAL is a multi-media exhibition by Adam Alwan that was driven by the passing of his grandmother in October of 2023 and the anniversary of his father’s passing in 2013. REAL/HEAL is Alwan’s first solo exhibition, a culmination of the Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Award. This award allowed Alwan to travel and further explore his artistic practice.

During his time in Europe, Alwan felt a great physical distance from his family, an ever-growing span of time between the passing of his grandmother and the present, and the deepening gaps in his memory. REAL/HEAL addresses the multiple facets of space through distance, time, and loss. This body of work utilizes familial photographs, objects, textiles, and practices to explore memory and Alwan’s connection to his father, grandmother, and himself. In REAL/HEAL, Alwan stitches together a stream of consciousness for us to follow as he delves through emotions of losing a loved one, forgetting, and surrendering oneself. The exhibition is rooted in Alwan’s own vulnerability to these processes. It asks us to consider what takes hold in the spaces between memories. These spaces allow something to grow and fill their void; it is up to us to decide what we will nurture: anger and fear, or love and compassion. Using plants as elements of the installation as symbols for growth, change, and care, Alwan hopes for the latter.