1878 Gallery
October 14 - November 19, 2017
Opening Reception Saturday, October 14, 2017
6:00 – 9:00 PM
Artist talk at 6:30 PM
Regina Agu
Sea Change
Regina Agu explores representations of the physical and historical landscape in her exhibition Sea Change. Agu’s work explores narratives related to language, history, representation, and their intersections in contemporary ideas around landscape and communities of color. Central to the exhibition is an 80-foot panoramic photograph printed on billboard vinyl documenting a group of prototype sand dunes constructed from the sargassum that regularly washes up on Galveston’s shores. Using landscape photography, environmental research, and source texts including Jean Rhys' 1966 feminist novel Wide Sargasso Sea, Sea Change is a speculative commentary on climate change, the tourism industry, environmental justice, and interrelated economies.
Regina Agu currently serves on the Board of Directors at Project Row Houses, Houston, TX and since 2014 has been the Co-Director of Alabama Song, Houston. From 2014-2015, she was the Artist Board President at DiverseWorks, Houston. Awards and residencies include Artadia Houston Award, 2017; Lawndale Artist Studio Resident, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, 2017-2018; SEED Grant for Alabama Song (with Gabriel Martinez), The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, 2016; Open Sessions 2016-2017, The Drawing Center, New York, NY, 2016; Associate Artist in Residence, Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL, 2015; Southern Constellations Fellow and Artist-in-residence, Elsewhere, Greensboro, NC, 2015; The Idea Fund Grant for Friends of Angela Davis Park (with Gabriel Martinez), Houston, 2014; Individual Artist Grant – Emerging, Houston Arts Alliance, Houston, 2012; and Creative Capital Master Class, Houston, 2012. Most recently, Agu was featured in the group exhibitions into the midst of things, DiverseWorks, curated by Rachel Lynn Cook; and Where Do We Stand?, The Drawing Center, New York, NY, on view August 3, 2017 – September 17, 2017, curated by Nova Benway and Lisa Sigal. Agu lives and works in Houston, TX.