Closed Door, Open Field

Utilizing a variety of different mediums, this collaboration explores experiences and emotions surrounding estrangement and displacement from one’s environment and former personal identity. Using sites of body and landscape, the works included speak to different states of alienation from a variety of subjects like home, nation, self, language and the past and encourage a contemplation of one’s own connection to these intangible yet ever-present concepts.

Rahim Hamid is currently enrolled at Carleton College for their B.A. in Studio Arts and Computer Science. Born in Pakistan, Rahim draws on their experiences as an immigrant to examine questions around history, colonization, exploitation and the individual through a practice including paintings, sculptures, videos and ink drawings. Working at large-scale, Rahim aims to take up space typically restricted from immigrants and POC and prompt viewers to critically question their own identity in context of nationhood and alienation.

Kimberly Wetzel is a multimedia artist creating abstract works on canvas and paper with added soft sculpture elements. She graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design with a BFA in Painting/Drawing in 2017 and is currently based out of St. Paul, Minnesota. Growing up in North Dakota, landscape had the capability to be still and expansive while routinely wielding harsh winters and dry summers. The prairie exists in a state of duality, moving slowly yet reminding you of its power in gentle ways. She pulls from the prairie's contrasting elements to inform the work she makes while using imagery from her grandparents' vacant farmhouse, entropy of childhood spaces, and longing for homes no longer accessible to talk about loss and to honor that land as a space to be protected.