Art Space Open House Showcases Canvas for Activism

Artist Trei Ramsey has been living in Washington, D.C. since 1998, so he is quite familiar with the rats in the city. So familiar, in fact, that he has made them the main characters in his newest solo exhibition, The Democ(rat)ic Process.

While many air their grievances on the internet or march in the streets in protest, artists such as Ramsey have turned to art as an outlet to not only process, but to express their feelings about living in modern day America.

Many of these emotions were on display at an open house over the weekend, just down the street from the U.S. Capitol.

Ramsey is one of over 50 artists that rent spaces in the 52 O St. Artist Studios in the NoMa neighborhood.

The four-story building was converted into studios in 1978 to address the shortage of affordable spaces for Washington-based artists. This past Saturday, the building welcomed the community into the space for an open house event.

Ramsey greeted eventgoers in a custom t-shirt featuring one of his D.C. Rats. This rat wears a D.C. flag shirt, holding a sign that says “VOTE,” in one hand and carrying a jumbo slice of pizza in the other. Other iterations of the rat were strewn about in sticker form on the table in front of him.

Ramsey’s upcoming exhibition focuses on life in D.C., telling stories through the lens of the D.C. Rat.

“It talks a little bit about gentrification and survivability and opinions of people from the outside looking in,” he said. “These things are life forms, and they’re just trying to live and survive, and that kind of is a stand in for certain dispossessed or disenfranchised people in the city.”

Ramsey said he uses his cartoonish, poppy, and surrealist imagery to draw people into the art, which depicts his experiences as a Black man in America. Whether they have been positive or negative, the pieces show his reactions to changes in the world around him over the last couple of decades.

Down the hall, artist and organizer Miriam Julianna hosts glass-making classes in a studio covered in glass cranes. While folding an origami paper crane, Julianna told the story of her close friend Ian, a trans person who passed away in 2016.

Julianna explained that in the Shinto tradition, whenever someone folds a thousand cranes, that person is granted a wish. When she found out Ian was getting married, she planned to make a thousand cranes for the wedding to grantthem a wish. But after Ian passed away, her goal changed.

“Instead of stopping at a thousand, I fold towards infinity because I see it as aTrojan horse to talk to folks about trans inclusion,” Julianna said. She now hosts “fold-ins,” where people come together to make paper cranes and learn about the trans experience.

For her, art is not only a way to bring people in and create a shared safe space, but a means by which she can share thestories of others and spread awareness around causes she feels strongly about.

Artist Jeffrey Berg has occupied a studio at 52 O St. for five years, using paper and pencil as his preferred medium to tell deep, psychological stories that show internal selves responding to the outside world.

His exhibition currently on display is titled “Unrest,” and it investigates how humans respond to trauma, internal unrest, and discontent.

“I like the work to show the protagonist or the hero of the story, the narrator of the story, feeling his internal emotions and experiencing the external,” Berg said. “A lot of art these days is decorative, and it’s just not me. I can’t imagine doing art that wasn’t a reaction to the outside world.”

Ramsey’s exhibition launches on Nov. 2, opening to the public just three days before the 2024 presidential election.

Berg’s “Unrest” is on display now at 52 O St., and Julianna’s classes are available for sign-up through her Instagram page.