The first retrospective of the artist’s two decades of world-building installations, this exhibition showcases Saya Woolfalk’s ambitious fictional narrative centered on an imagined race of women known as the “Empathics.” Through garment-based sculptures, video, paintings, works on paper, and performances, Woolfalk constructs a richly layered parable in which cultures mix, clash, and are ultimately transformed through shared understanding. The Empathics are brought to life with a distinctive visual language, symbolism, and folklore inspired by Woolfalk’s explorations of African, African American, Japanese, European, and Brazilian art, craft, and storytelling.
