A Bag to Breathe Into is SoMad's 2026 Mad World exhibition of environmental art, grounded in the framework of Intersectional Environmentalism—refusing to separate social justice from environmental collapse. The selected works challenge the systems that opporess both people and the environment, engaging with themes of colonialism, development, migration, stress, disability justice, and Afro-surrealism. Drawing from Kimberlé Crenshaw, the Combahee River Collective, and Joy Priest (whose poem provides the title), the exhibition seeks to imagine alternative systems of care and inspire cultural action in response to environmental injustices and collective anxieties.
Featuring works by Faith Brown, Kelly Clare, Leo de Paula, Amber Doe, Anna Dossmann, Onaje Grant-Simmonds, Jiayi Gu, Melonie Knight, Keith Lafuente, Yutong Leah Liu, Meicen Meng, Sam Nguyen-Jones, Andrew Ordonez, Abdel Karim Ougri, Perry Picasshoe, María-Elena Pombo, Eleanor Mahin Thorp, Kathy Wu, Nadia Younes, Anxious to Make (Liat Berdugo and Emily Martinez), Aya Bundurakis, Leah Byck, Vardit Goldner, Karl Kaisel, Alexandra Kumala, Jihyun Lee, Lilian C. Scheuer, Máte Vargas, Mona Okulla Obua, Zain Alam, and Maya Nguyen.
