Juneteenth 2021: Betti Ono Presents Darker Gods at The Lake of Dreams by Damon Davis

Reserve a time to view the exhibition here

Betti Ono is honored to present the culminating exhibition from our inaugural virtual artist's residency with Damon Davis. During this time, Davis focused on generating work in line with his ongoing Darker Gods series, which radically reimagines the tale of a Black Icarus on an epic journey to defeat white colonialism.

This multimedia exhibition is an immersive narrative experience that fully delves into the Black world-building of Davis’s post-disciplinary practice. He skillfully employs textiles, prints, film, music, and paintings to create boundless mythology that grapples with colonialism's effect on not only physical freedom but the ability to expand emotionally and artistically. Like ripples of water, Davis’s artwork is echoed in virtual renderings with alternate reality installations and the recently published NFT auction. Darker Gods at The Lake of Dreams is more than an exhibition. It’s reclamation actualized. 

Darker Gods at The Lake of Dreams provides opportunities for Black people to see themselves in new ways. Through the work, Davis explores concepts of power and posits that power is enforced by identity and both are upheld by mythology, furthermore that race, gender, even power itself are myths that we buy into for safety, comfort, and understanding.

This opening comes at a pivotal moment in the Betti Ono journey and closes out the celebration of our 10th anniversary. As we prepare to gather in the space for the first time in over a year, we know that we are not the same people that gathered before. We’ve been changed, hardened, fortified, hurt, healed, and challenged more by both the pandemic and the ongoing unrest in this country and beyond. We invite you to join us as we celebrate all that is blooming, to mourn what is no longer, and envision what is to come in the reflection of The Lake of Dreams. 

Darker Gods at The Lake of Dreams opens to the public Friday June 18th with a reception from 6-9pm and runs through August 13th.

This Juneteenth weekend, step into the world of Darker Gods at The Lake of Dreams.