Picturing Health
Philip Brun Del Re, Maria Mathioudakis, Bhavna Mehta, Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio,
Elizabeth Rooklidge, Akiko Surai, and Christina Valenzuela
curated by Elizabeth Rooklidge

November 9 - December 14

Closing reception with the artists on Saturday, December 14th from 5 to 7pm

BEST PRACTICE presents Picturing Health, a group exhibition featuring seven San Diego-based artists making work about health, illness, and disability. Artists in the exhibition include Philip Brun Del Re, Maria Mathioudakis, Bhavna Mehta, Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio, Elizabeth Rooklidge, Akiko Surai, and Christina Valenzuela.

Working in painting, sculpture, photography, and textile, together they ask, what does it mean to represent the vulnerabilities of the body in visual form? The artwork in this exhibition largely avoids linear narratives of recovery, problematizing the dominant ideology of "good" health and recognizing that “ill" health—whether temporary or permanent—is an inevitability. Health is a continuum, constantly in flux, and its complications constitute a foundational facet of human experience. 

Health thus becomes a subject for interrogation, ripe for artistic inquiry. The artists in Picturing Health question how we access the care we need, how experiences of time and space are affected by disability, and how the ill or disabled body can become a site of agency and discovery. Anchored in each artist’s personal experience, the works collectively affirm difference while advocating for interdependence, intimacy, and care. 

Click here to access a brief statement about each work along with a short bio for each artist in the exhibition.

UPCOMING

Gosia Herc
January 11 - February 15, 2025

Anna Garner
March 8 - April 12

1955 Julian Avenue
San Diego, CA 92113
map

 25th/Commercial on the Orange Line
Barrio Logan on the Blue Line

Gallery hours (during exhibitions):
Tuesday - Friday
11am - 4pm