Under the Dome of Heaven

John Kelly, A FRIEND GAVE ME A BOOK (detail), 2016-2025, mixed media, dimensions variable, https://www.ppowgallery.com/exhibitions/john-kelly2#tab:thumbnails;tab-1:slideshow (Accessed Jan 16, 2026).

Belonging Conversations January, 2026 by Makoto Fujimura

Julia and Mako continue their monthly conversation for Culture Care.

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Mako opened our Belonging conversation with a reflection on his recent experince at the John Kelly show currently on view at P·P·O·W. I concluded the conversation with a reflection on retrieving gold leaf for Mako. What I want to emphasize about the room itself is that in addition to the myriad colors of the gold and other metallics was the light! It was reflecting off everything! And somehow it was not blinding, but carefully curated to produce maximum effect. What is your experience of entering carefully curated space/ How do you curate your space? It could be a physical space you enter or a mental space, even a digital space. What elements might bear some tweaking so that you might have a gold room experience?
The question persists: How do all of these experiences that share connect to our responsibility as citizens of humanity in these turbulent times? What is our work as artists? There are as many answers as there are artists and we must keep trying. We must keep creating, sharing hope and glimpes of sad realities and future possiblities. We need creativity and imagination as the present cycles through past actions. How will the rudder of your artistic offering steer culture?