Uploaded September 2021 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
Love. Resist. Dream. These rallying cries echo throughout Los Angeles-based artist Cauleen Smith’s works, which remind us to nurture each other and the planet that sustains us.
Cauleen Smith: We Already Have What We Need presents works by the acclaimed Los Angeles-based artist, and features film, video, sculpture, textiles, installation, and drawing. The exhibition emphasizes acts of caring as antidotes to the injustices and inequities that shape our past and present. For over three decades, Smith (b. 1967) has harnessed acts of imagination and the power of revolutionary thinking to envision a better world. The title of the exhibition—and the expansive video installation at its center—suggests that, in fact, “We Already Have What We Need.”
Organized by The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH) presents a site-specific version of the exhibition, including a new installation and a recent work in neon. Through various mediums, Smith examines varied notions of our basic human needs, from the material to the spiritual, the personal to the universal. The exhibition weaves together themes of historical erasure, loss, and separation from one’s native culture, as well as the redemptive power of art, music, and text. Across multiple formats, Smith addresses a range of subjects related to the African Diaspora, the human condition, and the transformative power of art in all forms.
Cauleen Smith: We Already Have What We Need is organized by MASS MoCA and curated by Susan Cross, Senior Curator. Its presentation at CAMH is organized by Rebecca Matalon, Curator.
Visit our website to learn more about this exhibition.
camh.org/event/cauleen-smith-we-already-have-what-we-need
© Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 2021.
Love. Resist. Dream. These rallying cries echo throughout Los Angeles-based artist Cauleen Smith’s works, which remind us to nurture each other and the planet that sustains us.
Cauleen Smith: We Already Have What We Need presents works by the acclaimed Los Angeles-based artist, and features film, video, sculpture, textiles, installation, and drawing. The exhibition emphasizes acts of caring as antidotes to the injustices and inequities that shape our past and present. For over three decades, Smith (b. 1967) has harnessed acts of imagination and the power of revolutionary thinking to envision a better world. The title of the exhibition—and the expansive video installation at its center—suggests that, in fact, “We Already Have What We Need.”
Organized by The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH) presents a site-specific version of the exhibition, including a new installation and a recent work in neon. Through various mediums, Smith examines varied notions of our basic human needs, from the material to the spiritual, the personal to the universal. The exhibition weaves together themes of historical erasure, loss, and separation from one’s native culture, as well as the redemptive power of art, music, and text. Across multiple formats, Smith addresses a range of subjects related to the African Diaspora, the human condition, and the transformative power of art in all forms.
Cauleen Smith: We Already Have What We Need is organized by MASS MoCA and curated by Susan Cross, Senior Curator. Its presentation at CAMH is organized by Rebecca Matalon, Curator.
Visit our website to learn more about this exhibition.
camh.org/event/cauleen-smith-we-already-have-what-we-need
© Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 2021.
