Join us in the Library for the Opening Reception of “This Side of Town”, and exhibition curated by Gabrieli Garcia!
*featured image from Oliver Ito, seeing something missing, missing something left behind
Gabrieli Jannell Garcia is an interdisciplinary artist with a BFA in Sculpture from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Her work grapples with the tension between joy and grief, using materiality and space to explore existential dread and the absurdity of human experience. Influenced by writers and philosophers such as Clarice Lispector, Annie Dillard, and Friedrich Nietzsche, Garcia seeks to capture the bittersweet, embracing both decay and unrelenting hope.
Garcia’s work has been showcased at Stove Works Gallery, and she was awarded the ArtsBuild BIPOC Artists Grant and the Leslie Peeler Sculpture Scholarship. As part of her education fellowship at the Hunter Museum of American Art, she teaches art classes at local community centers, expanding accessibility to the arts.
Through sculpture, performance, and installation, Garcia builds spaces that invite reflection and rebellion, urging audiences to embrace life’s contradictions with teeth bared and sweetness lingering. Looking ahead, she plans to continue her artistic practice outside the academic lens, further exploring ways to engage with audiences through immersive experiences.