A faint odor of incense wafts amidst turquoise and indigo walls at Visitor Welcome Center, an artist-run gallery that seems especially inviting now for its present installation, “Middle Voice,” a homey interior outfitted by Sarita Dougherty with fellow collaborators champoy, Diyan Bukobomba, Olivia Chumacero, Nicanor Evangelista Jr, and iris yirei hu. Appearing as a humbly yet intriguingly adorned set of domestic chambers, this folksy setting is a multicultural patchwork of artworks incorporating ceremonial traditions, regional crafts and natural materials. The show overlaps the Western art canon while questioning its domination.

“Middle Voice.” Installation view. Left, iris yirei hu, mama and me in the sky (Survival Guide) (2018); right, Collaborative Ofrenda (2018).

In societies less Euro-centric than ours, art is often more informally linked to domestic utility and ceremonial ritual. Upon entering this exhibition, visitors are greeted by a set of cheerily painted shelves and small tables bearing flowers, edibles and mysterious trinkets. The six artists created this as a collaborative ofrenda in the Día de los Muertos tradition of honoring one’s ancestors.

“Middle Voice.” Installation view.

Ideals of cultural purity are upended as the artists amalgamate ethnic signifiers. Artistically harking back to nature, folklore and olden crafts, they explore ways of remaining connected to ancestral origins in an increasingly consolidated world where cultural uniqueness vanishes under migrational tides and technological advancement buries wisdom accreted over generations.

Dougherty’s oil paintings of motley interiors initially appear most conventional, yet details unfurl a more eccentric narrative. Snippets of handwritten text, indigenous weavings and a native garden bespeak the painter’s life in a mountain yurt.

Sarita Dougherty, Saltbush and Portal, Kitchen and Studio (2017).

Olivia Chumacero’s video When Light Married Water (2017) narrates cosmological theories relating to native flora. Its wall projection is partitioned by a rainbow patchwork sewn by iris yirei hu, who is represented by several additional textiles including a homespun weaving.

“Middle Voice.” Installation view.

Nearby, Nicanor Evangelista Jr. gives Filipino mandalas a contemporary technological twist in his video installation featuring a papier-mache skull. Diyan Bukobomba combines solar pyrography with seascape photos from her motherland in Hinalian (2017-2018), a collaged panorama whose title means “origin” in her native Bicol. 

champoy and Sarita Dougherty, Decolonization Chamber (Paradigm Portal), 2018.

The show’s centerpiece is Decolonization Chamber (Paradigm Portal) 2018, a small tent-like structure fashioned by Dougherty and champoy. Its outside features caricatures of colonialism; its inside is painted with scenes of tropical beauty.

“Middle Voice.” Installation view.

Via this show as a whole, Dougherty expands her heterogeneous painted interiors to three dimensions, inviting us in for an enjoyable and thought-provoking visit with an eclectic group of artists.

Sarita Dougherty with champoy, Diyan Bukobomba, Olivia Chumacero, Nicanor Evangelista Jr and iris yirei hu, “Middle Voice,” May 12 – June 16, 2018 at Visitor Welcome Center, 3006 W. 7th Street, Suite 200A, Los Angeles, CA  90005. visitorwelcomecenter.org

All images courtesy of the artists and Visitor Welcome Center.