Sanctuary: Borders & Belonging in 2026

Sanctuary: Borders & Belonging in 2026

Opening Reception: First Friday, October 2, 6-9pm
On view October 2, 2026 - November 14, 2026

“Sanctuary” brings together a diverse group of national and regional artists, creatives, and documentarians in response to the current political and social landscape surrounding migration and immigration. Projects in the exhibition amplify immigrant voices, document criminalization and detention, examine border politics and architecture, and give impacted people space to share diverse immigration stories.

The exhibition aims to center the human lives behind political rhetoric, asking how belonging is made and denied, and how care and resilience persist. It will include testimony and creative resistance, while countering simplistic and divisive narratives, and insisting on dignity, with the goal of documenting our current moment and calling for human rights for all.

This exhibition will also include over 60 artworks by immigrants of all backgrounds and geographies currently living and working in the Rochester area (Monroe, Orleans, Niagara, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Ontario and Wayne Counties) and a community video project featuring 100 immigration stories.

ABOUT THE IMAGE
top: Pamela Dodds, USA-Mexico Border Barrier from the project "Documenting Border Barriers"
bottom: Saman & Sasan Oskouei, US/Mexico Border, San Diego (stills from color video)

Open: Wed-Sun 12-5pm / Fri 12-9pm
$2 / Free For RoCo Members 

Learn more about these exhibitions at http://www.rochestercontemporary.org/current/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rochester.contemporary.art.center

Rochester Contemporary Art Center
137 EastAve
Rochester, NY 14604
(585) 461-2222
info@rochestercontemporary.org
Wed-Sun 12-5pm / Fri 12-9pm
$2 / Free For RoCo Members 
www.rochestercontemporary.org/current