If They Told You, Would You Listen? (March 24 - April 18, 2025) // Karen and Ted Koskores Gallery at Thayer Academy curated by Destiny Palmer
- dianajeanpuglisi
- Mar 25
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 5
On view March 24 - April 18, 2025
At the heart of If They Told You, Would You Listen? is a deeply personal story—the legacy of Destiny Palmer’s grandmother, whose unfinished quilt serves as the exhibition’s centerpiece. A tribute to the artist’s first creative influence, this piece connects the act of listening to a powerful, often unseen, lineage of artistry. In Palmer’s words, “She likely never saw herself as an artist, yet she was the first person I watched draw.”
The exhibition challenges traditional notions of listening, posing critical questions about power, privilege, history, and our willingness to confront uncomfortable truths. It explores what it means to truly listen—to histories, to silences, and to the narratives that push us beyond our comfort zones.
Through this lens, the participating artists create spaces of inquiry, tension, and affirmation. Their works span a range of perspectives, urging viewers to confront biases, assumptions, and blind spots. Ultimately, the exhibition reflects the universal and ongoing struggle to hear and understand one another, especially in moments of division.
Curator's Statement
I considered many ways to approach this exhibition. I began by thinking about artwork with a strong narrative, pieces that compel the viewer’s body to interact with them physically, or works that simply tell the truth. This exhibition is an attempt to explore all three.
At the heart of this exhibition is a quilt—one my grandmother began but never finished, a piece that was entrusted to me. My grandmother is still alive, still present, and with this exhibition, I want to honor her. She likely never saw herself as an artist, yet she was the first person I watched draw. Her ceramics were the first figurative sculptures I encountered, and the home she created was an ever-evolving aesthetic installation. She shaped my understanding of creativity long before I had the language to describe it. To me, she will always be the first artist I met.
Her decision not to pursue a creative career is a familiar story—one that echoes through generations in our communities. The path of an artist is filled with triumphs, rejections, sacrifices, and an unrelenting negotiation between passion and survival. Though the world may never see a retrospective of her work, I see her artistry everywhere, and I carry with me one of the most valuable lessons she ever shared:
“Listening is the key.”
This phrase has followed me, shaping the way I move through the world. It was the foundation of a speech contest I once entered, the guiding principle behind a year’s worth of programming in an art gallery, and now, the conceptual thread of this exhibition
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So, I ask you: Are we truly listening? And if we claim that we are, what does that mean in practice?
What does it mean to listen—not just to words, but to histories, silences, and the spaces between?
In what ways do power, privilege, and position shape who gets heard and who is dismissed?
How do we engage with narratives that challenge our own?
What is the responsibility of the listener in conversations about truth, justice, and memory?
How does listening extend beyond language and into action?
How do we hold space for others without centering ourselves in the process?
What does it look like to listen with curiosity rather than defense, with a desire to understand rather than to reply?
I have invited these artists to share their work with you so that the gallery remains an incubator for dialogue, exchange, and transformation. This exhibition is an offering—a space to reconsider how we navigate the world and each other. My hope is that it meets students where they are, yet challenges them to push beyond their existing frameworks of understanding. Each artist included in this exhibition captures moments of recognition, affirmation, inquiry, tension, and truth.
As I reflect on the state of our country, I am reminded of how quickly we dismiss the truths of others when they disrupt our comfort. We have forgotten how to meet in the middle, how to sit with discomfort, how to accept that agreement is not a prerequisite for respect.
The artwork in this exhibition does not demand—it invites. It calls us to engage in dialogue with our own assumptions, biases, and blind spots. The artist’s intent is not necessarily to provoke, but depending on where you stand, it just might.
Most of all, this exhibition is a tribute—to my grandmother, to the power of creation, and to the act of listening as a form of love, resistance, and remembrance. While she is still here, I want to celebrate her, to acknowledge her influence, and to ensure that her artistry—whether recognized or not—lives on.
Featured Artists
The exhibition brings together a compelling group of artists whose work captures moments of recognition, resistance, and truth. These artists challenge audiences to move beyond passive viewing, engaging with art as an interactive experience—one that interrogates themes of justice, memory, and human connection.
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