Featuring over 60 works including paintings, textiles, photographs, and sculptures, Somewhere to roost will explore the ways that artists evoke and construct ideas of “home”.

The exhibition’s title is drawn from an artwork by Thornton Dial, Sr. (1928–2016), Birds got to have somewhere to roost, which will be among the works on view. Reflecting on this statement, the exhibition will explore the importance of rest, comfort, and safety, while considering the poetic and unspecified nature of the word “somewhere”. Taken both literally and metaphorically, Somewhere to Roost represents spaces where artists live and work, as well as places remembered, imagined, or dreamed. The exhibition will highlight experiences of immigration, incarceration, and housing insecurity, as well as visions of home that are playful, inventive, and unexpected.

The exhibition is curated by Brooke Wyatt, Luce Assistant Curator at the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM). It is the third in a series of thematic shows drawn from the Museum’s collection and generously supported by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation.