When I Get Home

Participating Artists: Denny Assenmacher, Rubin Bates, Jamille Berry, Caleb Brazille, Jerri Burks, Micah Carter, Dennis Cenzer, Ashley Hawkins, Lewis Foster, Nick Granch, Constance Haliburton, Phillip Kraft, Larry Kimbrough, Ryan McDonagh, Nataniel McNeil, John Peterson, Bruce Rice, Ray Smith, Rodney Stephens, & Major Washington. 

Exhibition Dates: December 12, 2024 – January 11, 2025 

Location: PASC Detroit Gallery, 9301 Kercheval Ave, STE 2, Detroit, MI, 48214 

Gallery Hours: Th, Fr, & Sa, 12 pm – 5 pm and by appointment 

Curated by Amber Nax 

When I Get Home is a group exhibition featuring 27 artworks from artists from all three of PASC’s studios, many of whom are exhibiting for the first time. The artists in this collection (re)value their connections to ‘home’ through depictions of intimate spaces and residential exteriors, evoking a sense of nostalgia or desire for places that may feel safe, secure, and supportive. 

Home is typically characterized as a place of comfort, stability, and safety, a refuge from the harsh realities and polarizing forces of today’s world. More than just shelter, domestic spaces provide nourishment for the soul, underscoring the importance of truly feeling “at home” in one’s home. 

The living room mantelpieces portrayed by Caleb Brazille and Dennis Cenzer present intimate domestic objects. Artworks from Ray Smith and Ashley Hawkins celebrate Motown musicians and LP records, a familiar soundtrack in Detroiters' homes, often playing in the background during household routines. The portraits featured in this collection serve as a mimesis of the framed family photos that line the walls of our hallways and living rooms, emulating the familiar memories and faces that shape our sense of place. 

These sentimental spaces are a stark contrast to the vulnerability many feel in public life. German American historian and 20th-century philosopher Hannah Arendt, in her 1958 book “The Human Condition”, defined the political as any action performed in public, asserting that for something to be political, it must happen in the public sphere. However, Korean American artist, writer, and musician Johanna Hedva challenges this view in their 2016 essay “Sick Woman Theory”. Hedva argues that Arendt’s definition doesn’t consider who is granted access to public spaces—who holds power, and, more specifically, who controls visibility within the public. 

To belong is to feel ‘at home’. In many ways, home can be havenly; a place associated with safety, comfort, domesticity, and intimacy. However, home can also feel like an enclosure. For some, it is far from a refuge, becoming instead a source of strife, marked by poor family dynamics and a lack of autonomy. 

For the disabled population, limited access to public spaces restricts individuals from fully participating in society. During the pandemic, many disabled people experienced even greater isolation in their homes, cut off from essential external services that are often conduits to public life. In this sense, ‘the political’ is simply the act of daring to be seen. Creating art is more than just making, it encompasses the entire process, from selecting materials and choosing subjects, to finding where we feel most comfortable creating. Beyond the studio, our homes evolve into spaces of rest and inspiration, shaped by our unique needs and aspirations. Dedicated art organizations like PASC bridge the personal (home) and the political (public) by transforming art studios into extensions of home through person-centered care. 

Amber Nax (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist and independent curator, native to Detroit, MI. She earned her B.F.A. from Wayne State University, focusing on Black American and African history, contemporary art, and folklore. Most recently, Nax curated Adler & Adler, an exhibition of archival photos from 1940s-70s Black Bottom Detroit, at the Southside Community Art Center in Chicago, IL (2024). She currently serves as Gallery Assistant at PASC Detroit Gallery (2024) and holds the ICI Forum Research Fellowship based in Chicago, IL (2024). 

Launched in 2021, PASC is the first progressive art and design studio and exhibition program in Detroit and Wayne County dedicated to supporting artists with developmental disabilities and mental health differences to advance artistic practices and build individual careers in the art and design fields. PASC is a program of Services to Enhance Potential (STEP), a non-profit service organization founded in 1972 that provides services and support for more than 1,400 individuals with disabilities and mental health differences across Southeastern Michigan.