Circular Migrations: Homeward Bound includes the interactive sculpture installation, The Dance, by Patricia Sannit, and a dance performance, Eternal Home, by Nicole L Olson. Sannit also invited artists, Estephania Gonzales, Krista Leigh Davis, and Safwat Saleem to present work that explores the meaning of home and im/migration from different perspectives.

Adaptation is key to a species’ survival. Our species has demonstrated repeatedly our exceptional ability to adapt to new environments and thrive. In the face of economic uncertainty and environmental instability, we continually need to adapt, and our actions are demanding rapid adaptation from our co-inhabitants on this planet. We are all looking for home.

And there is hope. The cycle of migration and immigration, and change, is perpetual. When it feels extremely dark as we face the challenges related to adapting to change, it can be helpful to look at history and recognize that it's possible to thrive even after a significant upheaval.

Eternal Home will be presented on Sunday, April 14th, 2-3 pm. Eternal Home features Nicole L Olson in an energetic, elegiac, participatory dance formed amid the sound and sculptural installation created by Patricia Sannit. Click here for more information.

About the Artists: 
Award-winning dancer and choreographer Nicole L. Olson explores the human condition through movement. The artistic director of the dance company NicoleOlson|MovementChaos, she’s presented work at the Phoenix Art Museum, The Heard Museum, the Desert Botanical Garden, and other locales. She has also shown work nationally at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and additional venues in Chicago, Portland, Los Angeles, Austin, Las Vegas, and more. Along with choreographing for numerous Arizona theater productions, she is the director of dance at the Metropolitan Arts Institute in Phoenix.

Patricia Sannit is an Arizona artist, widely recognized for her work in sculpture, interdisciplinary mixed media, and community organizing. Her work explores human interactions, and her interactions, with the natural world. A significant area of study has been human evolution and resilience through time, and the power and persistence of migration as an adaptive strategy. She received her MFA from the California College of Arts. Awards include the Scult Contemporary Forum Artist Award and the Arizona Art Commission Artist Award. Residencies include the Archie Bray, Red Lodge Art Center, Belger Crane Yard, Tempe Center for the Arts, Baer Art Center, Jentel Foundation, the Woodman Foundation, and MacDowell Foundation. Solo shows include the ASU Art Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, and the Mulvane Museum. 

Krista Davis is a visual artist living between Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in territory (Dawson City, Yukon) and Kjipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia). Her art practice is a space where dirt, bones, and jars of microscopic algal communities meet costumes, wigs, and jars of glass glitter. Where queerness, the Wild, and relationships in the natural world guide artistic explorations. In this space, Davis hopes to uncover strategies that can shift human and non-human relationships toward a more ecologically just world.

Estephania González is an Arizona-based multimedia artist specializing in video, installation, and performance art. Her work probes the intricate intersections of spacetime, cosmology, and Latinx identity. Anchored in the exploration of identity politics and their relation to physical and psychological borderlands, González crafts compelling narratives that reflect contemporary understandings of the human condition. González has been featured in Hyperallergic, and published in "EMERGENCY INDEX" Volumes 9 and 10. She has been the recipient of several artist residencies, including Guapamacátaro in Michoacán, Mexico (2016), La Wayaka Current in the Atacama Desert, Chile (2019), and the upcoming 2024 CALA Regional Art Resident in Arizona. Her exhibitions and performances span the U.S., Mexico, and Chile. González holds an MFA in Intermedia Art from Arizona State University, along with a BFA in Performance Art and a BA in Art History from the University of Northern Iowa.

Safwat Saleem is a multidisciplinary artist who gives visibility to immigrant narratives, with a focus on cultural loss resulting from assimilation. Safwat’s body of work weaves together themes of preservation, desire to belong, resistance, and joy as an immigrant father raising a multiracial child in the American Southwest. His artwork has been shown at the Open Data Institute at Cartagena Data Festival (Columbia); Puffin Cultural Forum (Teaneck, New Jersey); TED Talks (Vancouver, Canada); and Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (Scottsdale, Arizona), among other venues. Safwat was named a TED Fellow (2015, 2013), and is a three-time recipient of the Rocky Mountain Emmy (2022, 2021). Safwat believes in using his art for social impact and has collaborated with non-profit and change-making organizations like Fine Acts, 18 Million Rising, RUN AAPI, SAADA, and TED. He is the founder of the former online Pakistani music magazine Bandbaja, which advocated for using music as a socio-political tool for activism and change. Safwat lives and works in Phoenix, Arizona.