Celestial Bodies

CURATED BY Neena Wang

February 21 - June 7, 2025

OPENING RECEPTION February 21st, 6-8 PM

ARTIST OPEN CALL -

This exhibition is curated by Neena Wang and hosted by Stove Works in Chattanooga, TN. The exhibition will be on view from February 21 - June 7, 2025 with an opening reception on Friday, February 21. All works in the exhibition will need to arrive at Stove Works by February 1, 2025 and will be returned after June 2025.
We are seeking works in all mediums from Asian/AAPI artists, especially those from the South, Mid-South, and Midwest that reflect themes of generational dreams, collective imagination, continental migration, community resilience, and growing roots in a foreign place.

statement -

This exhibition explores themes of ancestral storytelling, generational dreams, migration, and growing roots in a new home. The term “celestial” was a derogatory phrase used for Chinese laborers who came to the American South beginning in the 1860s. China was referred to as the “Celestial Empire” because they worshiped the sky and heavens. Celestial Bodies will explore the stories of Chinese and Asian immigrants in the South, their future generations, and the subsequent birth of a new and unique visual landscape and imagination.

Participating Artists -

TBD

ABOUT THE CURATORS -

Neena Wang - Neena Wang is a multidisciplinary artist and curator from Memphis who lives and works in Los Angeles. Her creative practice spans curation, sculpture, painting, installation, performance and music to imagine alternative futures and create them into the present. Her most recent curatorial project was the exhibition Between Heaven and Earth, We Build Our Home at UrbanArt Commission in Memphis, and she previously held the position of Curatorial Assistant at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis. She has been an artist-in-residence at Eureka Springs School of Art, Jentel Arts, Stove Works, Crosstown Arts, and Paul Artspace. Her work has been exhibited in shows in Los Angeles, Memphis, Chattanooga, and St. Louis, and she has been the recipient of grants from Tri-Star Arts, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and Q-Wave.