In two upcoming exhibitions, SoLA Contemporary will examine the ways in which cultural dominance and oppression within a society play a role in whose stories are documented and whose are erased. The artists of Breaking the Mold and Pickled Memories use their work to pose important questions around who records history and for what purpose, and how the idea of history as objective truth leaves out entire experiences and the identities that go with them. Breaking the Mold seeks to answer these questions through a global lens by reclaiming abstraction as part of artmaking across centuries and cultures long before the advent of European Modernism. The artists have created a series of abstractions which ask their audience who invented abstract art and why its origins have been ascribed to the handful of artists that come to mind. Artists: Regina Herod, Mirena Kim, Pete Hoffecker Mejia, Moncho 1929, Jamaal Hasef Tolbert, with additional work by the curator, Sharon Barnes In Pickled Memories, Adrian White uses his own personal history to trace a line back to his origins, realizing in the process that through time and circumstance, much of that history has been lost. White’s photographs and sculptural work serve as a concrete reminder that for everything that could be saved, something has gone missing, making the preserved memories all the more valuable in the endeavor to claim a personal and historical identity and create a whole using these intimate parts. To attend opening August 29 @ 11am-4pm, please RSVP to info@solacontemporary.org