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Spring TideA solo exhibition of artist Avery Li
In collaboration with Ireoluwatoni Asojo, Jude Bigboy, Kayla Bryant, Tony Torres, and Yuqi Liu
On view in the gallery at the WaterFire Arts Center
475 Valley Street, Providence, RI 02908
Exhibition on View: Thursday, April 2 – Sunday, April 26, 2026
Artist Reception: Thursday, April 2, 6:00–9:00 p.m.
Artist in Conversation: Thursday, April 9, starting at 6:00 p.m.
Gallery Night Providence: Thursday, April 16, part of a citywide arts activation with trolley rides and self-guided tours
Spring Tide presents an alternative to harshly delineated borders and means of identification, displaying a world in which seemingly disparate parts may be recombined. It opens a portal to another world, populated by chimeras of a transcultural nature.
The sculptural paper of this exhibition is made with a combination of the Amate paper technique practiced by the Mexican Indigenous Otomi people and cyclical East Asian papermaking. Amate, currently created mainly in the mountainous town of San Pablito, Puebla, is a form of pounded bark paper traditionally used to make farming almanacs and religious texts; after Spanish conquest, it was targeted and destroyed by colonizers who viewed it as blasphemous. Few historical examples survive, but its reformulation here lends itself to extending its presence in the current.
The paper is ornamented with seaweed and coastal debris gathered in Rhode Island and inedible fragments left over from communal and personal gatherings.
These once-vilified techniques and recycled materials reflect the malleable nature of identity and acceptance. Spring Tide asks viewers not to conclude and classify but to accept the seeming contradictions and new conditions that arise from embracing opaque differences.
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; Thursday until 9:00 p.m.
Admission is free and open to all; donations are encouraged.
For more information, check out:
https://waterfire.org/events/spring-tide-a-solo-exhibition-by-avery-li/
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Event Venue
475 Valley St, Providence, RI, United States, Rhode Island 02908
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