What makes some violence more highbrow than others? What makes some violence worthy of being displayed in a formal setting and charging admission to gaze upon it? Is it an art critic disregarding portrayals of the common blood and toil of everyday American living? Maybe they see something fanciful and blood-soaked and say, “Now this is a depiction of violence worthy of our halls. This is the real deal.”

What you will encounter at the Loretto artist-in-residence program is a community of elders full of deep curiosity about residents and their work.

A small miracle occurred in 2022 when the drywall was cracked open, and the well-preserved pigment of Wajnarowicz’s painting shone through.

After Precarity extends and pushes the conversation on art made from or inspired by commercially manufactured goods, or art in the age of the anthropocene, from the present moment into the future, while drawing on the past.

I have become more attentive to the pace at which artworks unfold. I remain aesthetically attracted to work that would translate well on a Xerox machine, but I’m more interested in spending time with images, objects, and sounds that reveal themselves slowly. Art that sustains my attention often has a drone about it and seems comfortable steeping in grief.

“I would trouble the idea that artists need institutions. I think it’s the other way around. I think institutions need artists. They don’t have anything without us,” she said to a rousing cheer from the audience.