Judith Greenwald

judithgreenwald.com

STATEMENT

DISPLACEMENT

To me, the work I do is a means of interpreting unsettling truths, of bearing witness, and of sounding an alarm. The beauty of formal representation both carries an affirmation of life and subversively brings us face to face with news from our besieged world.
—Richard Misrach 

This body of work emerged uninvited. During the dark days of Covid and after Russia had invaded Ukraine, these stark figures began to populate my canvases. Soon, I had a growing community of displaced figures, sometimes haunting and always suggestive of an unspoken narrative.

Each of these pieces is painted with a combination of oil paint and cold wax, a medium that lends itself to the experience of depth and complexity. In the process of exploring various facets of displacement, I have had the opportunity to experiment with texture, layering, and color.

The figures are rendered as silhouettes— nameless and faceless— suggesting both their anonymity and their universality. They are the 130 million people displaced worldwide due to war, famine, oppression, and the climate crisis. They are the 15 million Syrians who have been forced to leave their homes to seek safety and who continue to live in dire circumstances. They are the nearly 7 million people internally displaced in Afghanistan and over 8 million who have left the country due to conflict, violence, and natural disasters. They are the people of South Sudan, over 4 million of them, who have been forced to leave their homes and the 5.8 million Ukrainians who are wartime refugees. They are the nearly 2 million people of Gaza, most of whom are internally displaced, and the half million Israelis who have been displaced by the same conflict. They are the 21 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean who have been forced from their homes due to persecution, gang and gender-related violence, and food insecurity. They are the over 3 million people in the U.S. who were displaced by natural disasters in 2023. They are the unhoused living on our streets.

These are the physical displacements that have become so characteristic of our times. There are emotional and spiritual displacements as well. Covid brought deep isolation, disconnection, and dislocation. And as climate disasters rattle our world and as desperate people search for stability in authoritarian leaders, a kind of soul sickness permeates our beings.

None of us is free from displacement. It is incumbent on us to bear witness, to see and acknowledge injustice, to show up with empathy, compassion, and solidarity at very least. Bearing witness inherently involves making visible those who are invisible and recognizing that each person has a story. I invite you to imagine the narratives that accompany each of these paintings and, in so doing, to join me in bearing witness to “this besieged world.”

—Judith Greenwald, Ceres Gallery, 2024 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2024
2021Belonging, Ceres Gallery, New York City 
2018LifeLine, Ceres Gallery, New York City 
2015Layers, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2013Spirit, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2010POEM, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2008reVISION , Ceres Gallery, NYC
2005Witness/Ethiopia, Ceres Gallery, NYC
2003Perspective, Ceres Gallery, NYC
2000Multiple Surfaces/Multiple Selves, Ceres Gallery, NYC
1998Transitional Spaces, Ceres Gallery, New York City
1997Transitional Spaces , Spencertown Academy, Spencertown, NY
 The Gallery, 2 Depot, Chatham, NY

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2024The Diversity of Women’s Voices, Ceres Gallery, New York City 
2021Outside my Oeuvre, Ceres Gallery, New York City 
2011Affordable Art Fair, NYC
2011Women’s Nature, Ceres Gallery, NYC
2009Shimmerings, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2009Towing the Line, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2007Scratching the Surface, Ceres Gallery, NYC
2006Square Show, Ceres Gallery, NYC
2005Issues and Angles, Ceres Gallery, NYC
2004Square Show, Ceres Gallery, NYC
2003Square Show, Ceres Gallery, NYC
2002Transformations, Lamia Ink, Sakai City Municipal Museum, Japan
Transformations, Lamia Ink, Florence Lynch Gallery, NYC
1999Summer Ensemble, Ceres Gallery, NYC
1996Spencertown Academy Benefit Show: Habitat for Humanity
Park Row Gallery, 10th Anniversary Show, Chatham, NY
Lulu’s Gallery, Albany, NY
Twentieth Annual Small Works Show, NYC
1995Spencertown Academy Juried Show, Spencertown, NY (third prize)
Art on the Block, Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY
1994Mertz, Ward-Nasse Gallery, NYC
OIA Salon Show, New York City
Open/Shut: Exploring Women’s Lives, The Crystal Quilt, NYC
1993Holiday Salon Show, Ceres Gallery, NYC
Women’s Ways of SeeingII, The Crystal Quilt, NYC
1992Women’s Ways of Seeing, The Crystal Quilt, NYC

SELECTED WORKSHOPS AND CLASSES:

2001Encaustic, R+F Studios
1999Mixed media with Juliet Holland
1998Mixed media with Juliet Holland
1997Critique class with Nancy Azara
1996Critique class with Nancy Azara
1995Critique class with Nancy Azara
1994Monoprinting with Lisa Mackie; Bob Blackburn Studio
1993Monoprinting with Lisa Mackie; Bob Blackburn Studio
1993Sculptural papermaking; Dieu Donne Papermill
1992Papermaking; Interlaken School of Art
1993Collage with Bruce Dorfman; The New School, Art Student’s League
1992Collage with Bruce Dorfman; The New School, Art Student’s League
1991Collage with Bruce Dorfman; The New School, Art Student’s League
1990Collage with Bruce Dorfman; The New School, Art Student’s League
1990Critique class with Lillian Ball
1989Critique class with Lillian Ball