“JOYSOME” Opens on The Streets of Boulder for the Month of Photography Festival

March is upon us and with it comes the Month of Photography. This is a festival that comes to the region only once every two years, and with it, a number of public exhibitions and events.

One such event is “JOYSOME,” a public art exhibit centering around the themes of joy. This programming is the culmination of six years of hard work by the founding director of East Window, Todd Edward Herman, and was co-curated with Drew Austin, who is a curator at the Dairy Arts Center, to celebrate the Month of Photography.

“Joy is frequently understood as the fulfillment of desires which are considered essential to one’s own flourishing. Joy involves an existential and personally salient experience that is significant enough to produce a powerful emotional response. Joy serves critical evolutionary functions such as its role in forming bonds between infants and parents, and in intimate romantic relationships. The experience of joy is a fundamental response to human possibility.

“Why, then, do we so readily dismiss joy as the “emotion of luxury”? And why do our respective experiences of joy often feel inappropriate in a world that both suffers without it and needs it so significantly?” says Herman in an open letter regarding the inspiration behind “JOYSOME.”

The call for submissions started last December and included a number of creative public workshops leading up to the jurying of the entries to the call. Submissions were then juried by iconic genderqueer artist, author, and drag performer Harry James Hanson and Charlo, a local designer, visual artist, and muralist. “JOYSOME” consists of 50 images selected from over three hundred responses from around the world to a call for work on the theme of joy.

Submitted by artists and non-artists alike, the works in this exhibit span a range of disciplines and affective registers associated with joy. From ecstasy, transcendence, sadness, the fear of joy, anger, mania, euphoria, toxic positivity, the American Dream, the pursuit of happiness, masochism, selflessness, success, sacrifice, divination, cuteness, the sublime, altruism, and peace, this exhibit explores the many paths and expressions that can lead us back to joy.

During this month-long exhibition, patrons and participants are encouraged to reflect on how they define and find joy in a volatile world and ever-changing climate that can sometimes leave one feeling depleted. This exhibition explores joy as a form of resistance; a rebellion from the messages that we’re being fed by society that are the antithesis of joy.

The selected images are printed on flags and exhibited throughout Boulder, Colo. for the entire month of March as part of the Month of Photography Festival.

Find more details, including participating locations by visiting the Dairy Arts Center website.

East Window & Gallery is an independent arts organization dedicated to promoting and developing original art and performance by emerging and underrepresented artists from around the world. You can find out more about the gallery, exhibits, and hours of operation at the East Window website.

Featured image credit the Dairy Arts Center.