The second in the Ashmolean NOW exhibition series, where contemporary artists are invited to create new work inspired by the Ashmolean’s historical collections.
This exhibition features new drawings and objects by London-based artist Pio Abad (b.1983).
Deeply informed by the history of the world and particularly the Philippines, where Abad was born and raised, his works draw out transnational lines between historical incidents and people, and our lives today.
Concerned with colonial history and cultural loss, Abad’s works are exhibited together with select works by other artists and ‘diasporic’ objects from Oxford collections, chosen by the artist.
The title ‘To Those Sitting in Darkness’ is a reference to American writer Mark Twain’s satire ‘To the Person Sitting in Darkness’ (1901), which strongly criticised imperialism.
Abad views the exhibition as an ‘act of illumination that puts unexamined histories on display and addresses objects that have been confined to the margins of telling.’
About Ashmolean NOW
For this series of three exhibitions in Gallery 8, each artist will explore different areas of the Museum’s broad collections. Ashmolean NOW will feature their four very different points of view. The first summer 2023-24 exhibition showing work by Flora Yukhnovich and Daniel Crews-Chubb is followed by Pio Abad in February 2024 and Bettina von Zwehl in October 2024.
Exhibition supported by:
Ampersand Foundation
Christian Levett
Mercedes U. Zobel
The Patrons of the Ashmolean Museum
and those who wish to remain anonymous
