Thermals and Thresholds

December 14, 2024 - January 25, 2025

Thermals and Thresholds explores the dynamic forces that shape us, drawing from the phenomena of rising thermals and shifting thresholds to frame reflections on human, ecological, and social interdependence. Texas Biennial artists delve into the invisible currents that connect us—those atmospheric and metaphorical forces that propel change, mark boundaries and create spaces for transformation.

Thermals, the rising columns of warm air, evoke the delicate balance of nature’s systems, while thresholds suggest moments of transition and tension—between past and future, self and other, destruction and renewal. The works in this exhibition harness these motifs to ponder the fragility of ecosystems, the fluidity of borders, and the fraught relationships that shape how humans treat each other. These tensions reveal cycles of conflict, care, exclusion, and solidarity, highlighting the deep interconnectedness of human experiences.

Through this lens, the exhibition becomes a meditation on interconnectedness and precarity. It invites viewers to consider how human identities and stories are carried, altered, and reshaped by the unseen forces that define our shared environment and interactions. The interplay of thermals and thresholds serves as a metaphor for the fragile equilibrium we inhabit—a world suspended between rising challenges and transformative potential.

TX24 Artists: Leticia R. Bajuyo, Emilio Carrera Quiroga, Roslyn Dupré, Veronica Ibargüengoitia, Alie Jackson, Alejandro Macias, Immanuel Oni, Jerónimo Reyes-Retana, Colleen Maynard & Mark Chen, Tere García, Mateo Gutierrez, Ryan Montgomery, Patrick Renner, Carlos Rosales-Silva, and Dimitri Staszewski.

Sawyer Yards: Silos 1502 Sawyer Street, Houston, TX