Misako Nakahira of Japan uses stripes, deliberately distorted and overlapping, as a way to view society from a broader perspective and interpret current turbulent times. Credit: Tom Grotta / browngrotta

In an era of political division, ecological breakdown, and hyper-commodification, beauty might seem like a distraction. But for the artists featured in Beauty is Resistance: art as antidote, on view at browngrotta arts from Oct. 11–19, 2025, beauty is not an escape — it’s an act of engagement.

The exhibition transforms browngrotta arts’ historic barn/gallery in Wilton into a vibrant showcase of contemporary textile, fiber and material-based art. Beauty is Resistance includes more than 30 international artists across generations and geographies including: Adela Akers (U.S.); Marian Bijlenga (NL); Mary Merkel-Hess (U.S.); Neha Puri Dhir (IN); Kay Sekimachi (U.S.); Yong Joo Kim (KR/U.S.); Stéphanie Jacques (BE); Misako Nakahira(JP); Eduardo Portillo and María Dávila (VE) and Wendy Wahl (U.S.), among others. These artists reframe beauty not as indulgence, but as a tool for protest, remembrance, and transformation

Four Directions: Memory, Protest, Ornament, and Ritual

The exhibition unfolds across four thematic sections — Threads of Memory, Reading Between the Lines, Radical Ornament, and Ritual and Reverence — each exploring how beauty can spark reflection, resistance, and renewal.

Threads of Memory

Here, memory becomes tactile. Norma Minkowitz’s Frozen in Time series wraps once-used personal items — combs, brushes, a sealed diary—in dark threads. These ghostly forms evoke forgotten lives and lost stories. Lia Cook creates large-scale woven portraits of children based on video stills. Monumental yet intimate, their pixel-to-thread rendering evokes recognition, nostalgia, and even grief. As viewers move closer or farther, their perception shifts—highlighting the emotional complexity within the threads.

Lia Cook creates large-scale woven portraits of children based on video stills. Surprisingly intimate despite their size, they evoke recognition, nostalgia, and even grief. Credit: Tom Grotta / browngrotta

Reading Between the Lines

Artworks in this section subtly or directly address themes of protest, politics and ecological consciousness. Based in Spain, Aby Mackie reconstructs reclaimed historic textiles to honor forgotten histories. “My practice becomes a form of quiet resistance,” she said, “honoring forgotten stories and reasserting the enduring significance of craft.” A work by Ed Rossbach, a pioneer in fiber art, adds historical weight. Made in the 1980s it critiques U.S. involvement in Central America. His use of camouflage and natural materials reveals longstanding ties between medium, message and protest.

Aby Mackie reconstructs reclaimed historic textiles as quiet resistance to honor overlooked histories. Randy Walker’s Collider reimagines fiber through an architectural framework, demanding that viewers look more closely. Credit: Tom Grotta / browngrotta

Radical Ornament

Here, ornamentation, surface and structure are reimagined as meaningful, even radical, forms of messaging. Collider by Randy Walker integrates fiber within architectural frameworks, playing with contrast — solidity and fragility, visibility and invisibility. His use of crisscrossed threads prompt viewers to engage more intently. Gyöngy Laky’s Graceful Exit incorporates colorful plastic waste from industrial cap-making. Laky’s idea of “industrial harvesting” challenges the notion of trash, instead presenting discarded materials as vibrant beauty — and commentary on sustainability.

Gyöngy Laky’s Graceful Exit uses brightly colored plastic waste provided by Johnson Wax to rethink sustainability. James Bassler comments on the glorification of entitlement and profit — historic and contemporary — in Donald and his Habsburg Empire, made with thread yarn made from duck feathers, a traditional Mexican technique. Credit: Tom Grotta / browngrotta

Ritual and Reverence

This section explores contemporary reinterpretations of cultural traditions. James Bassler’s Donald and his Habsburg Empire critiques entitlement and profit through a historical lens. Using yarn spun from duck feathers — a traditional Mexican technique — he links imperialism to modern elitism, weaving history and politics into a richly symbolic textile. Jin-Sook So’s Konstruction modernizes the Korean tradition of bojagi using silver-plated steel mesh. Controlled oxidation adds a luminous surface that fuses old and new — a reflective meditation on history and innovation.

A Gathering of Voices

“The multiplicity of materials and techniques in this exhibition engages viewers,” said Tom Grotta, co-curator. “But they are truly captivated when they identify the works’ deeper significance — to the artists and, often, to themselves.”

Beauty is Resistance includes artists from around the world, including:
Adela Akers (US); Marian Bijlenga (NL); Mary Merkel-Hess (US); Neha Puri Dhir (IN); Kay Sekimachi (US); Yong Joo Kim (KR); Stéphanie Jacques (BE); Misako Nakahira (JP); Eduardo Portillo & María Dávila (VE); Wendy Wahl (US), among others. Together, they represent a global network pushing the boundaries of textile and material-based art.

A full-color catalog — #61: Beauty is Resistance: art as antidote — features an essay by Elizabeth Essner, Windgate Foundation Associate Curator of Craft at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and will be available for purchase.

For more information, visit browngrotta arts online.