Grand Opening August 3
Soft Opening July 27 – August 2  
Exhibitions on view through October 7, 2023 

The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) will host two new exhibitions at ARTS at King Street Station featuring emergent artists Le’Ecia Farmer and Eymah Nuzhat. These artistic works will be on view in addition to an exhibition of the City of Seattle’s Civic Art Collection. Space Cowrie and Perceiver/Perception will be on view from July 27 – October 7, 2023. 

“We’re excited to show two incredibly talented artists at ARTS at King Street Station. Both Farmer and Nuzhat delve into their histories, communities, and experiences through artworks conveying the human condition. ARTS at King Street Station is a powerful Gallery providing public space for artists to engage the public.”

Gülgün Kayim, Director of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture

Space Cowrie 
Le’Ecia Farmer 

Space Cowrie is a multimedia exhibition exploring African diasporic desire – the whirring space of longing, grief, joy, and healing. Through experimentation with traditional and nontraditional forms, Le’Ecia Farmer examines both the fragmented and whole sides of individual and collective desire. Artworks will evoke sometimes tender and sometimes joyful experiences and reflect the artist trusting her intuition and ancestors. The exhibition will include portraits, textile pieces, constructed garments, and video installations. The work will utilize natural materials such as wool, raffia, and pigments in experimental ways.  

Le’Ecia Farmer is a queer Black parent currently based in Seattle, WA. She has studied fiber art (including weaving, basketry, natural dye, beading, and felting), visual art, apparel design, and mixed media in the Northwest, and traditional and contemporary textile printing in Ghana (Kumasi, Ntonso, Accra, etc.). She continually draws inspiration from the overt and covert connections between her cultural upbringing and art practice. Le’Ecia is keenly drawn to adornment and self-fashioning beyond surface-level connotations and plays with the various meanings that materials possess and views every medium as an opportunity to explore, experiment, or disrupt. Le’Ecia often engages with themes of diasporic longing, loss, and representation. She is drawn to materials like cotton, wool, raffia, natural dye, and vintage cloth and treats these materials as living and vibrating things. They carry our stories, as we do them.  

Perceiver/Perception 
Eymah Nuzhat 

Eymah Nuzhat’s installation Perceiver/Perception transforms the narratives of women’s experiences of sexual assault through the lens of the perceiver, into powerful visual autobiographies. Nuzhat portrays the stories and emotions of abused women – particularly when the perpetrators are family members – and how this alters the victim’s self-perception over time. Her work also exposes how society’s reactions can shun the victim, which leads to the glorification of the abuser. Perceiver/Perception features watercolors, handmade gold paint, and gilding on traditional hand-glued paper. 

Eymah Nuzhat was raised and educated in Pakistan. While growing up, she always questioned her elders about the traditional, stereotypical gender roles – where different boundaries for male and female genders led to a differentiated societal experience. She explored the different narratives of women in her undergraduate thesis, hoping to be a positive voice for women who were shut down because of societal stigma. Since moving to the U.S., she has realized that the problem is at an international scale and has been trying to lead the fight through her art. In her work, Nuzhat portrays the experiences of women whose stories have been harshly silenced by their community and in the broader society. 

The First 50 Years: Highlights from the Civic Collection, 1973-2023   
On View through September 7, 2023 

The First 50 Years: Highlights from the Civic Collection, 1973-2023 exhibition includes over 150 artworks celebrating regional artistry. Artists in the exhibition include renowned artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Sherry Markowitz, Marita Dingus, Susan Point, Akio Takamori, and Jeffry Mitchell. Newer artist’s works include Humaira Abid, Robert “Running Fisher” Upham, Natalie Ball and Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas.    

ARTS and its 1% for Public Art Program has been at the forefront of commissions with diverse artists to create Public Artworks and works for the City’s Civic Collection. since 1973, the Seattle Civic Collection has grown to include 4,112 artworks, 3,674 of which are displayed throughout city buildings in city offices and public areas. The remaining 438 works are permanently sited in neighborhoods, parks, public buildings throughout the city. The Civic Collection is a living visual history focused mainly on artists in the Pacific Northwest region.