The Buffalo AKG Art Museum announced That Which Binds Us, a new exhibition of recently acquired artworks made using fabric and textiles that will be on view in the museum’s M&T Bank Gallery from Saturday, November 9, through Monday, May 12, 2025. Admission to the M&T Bank Gallery and the entire Seymour H. Knox Building is always free of charge. 

With fabric, weaving, embroidery, and other related materials, the fifteen artists in That Which Binds Us reflect on what connects us and the experiences we share. This exhibition gestures toward a world in which practices that were once the province of domestic labor and leisure pastimes eclipse our desire for digital experiences. Instead, contemporary life is brought to the forefront in a rich tapestry of tradition, identity, history, and culture.

While some of the artists in That Which Binds Us manifest a personal connection to the medium, others consider themes that can provoke challenging conversations about the world around us. With artists from such varied places as Japan; Mexico; Denmark; Lynchburg, Virginia; and Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, there are many stories to be discovered in these works and even more to be learned in exploring the personal and social circumstances that have conditioned them. The ways these artists unconventionally employ the handmade, crafted, and upcycled serve as meditations on memory and the complexity of human relationships. These works address the question: How do we carry experiences with us and hand them down through material culture?

Featuring art by Ryoko Aoki, Kevin Beasley, Pia Camil, Aiko Hachisuka, Sergei Jensen, Ann Greene Kelly, Gabriel Kuri, Charles LeDray, Britta Marakatt-Labba, Joiri Minaya, Jordan Nassar, Rose B. Simpson, Meredyth Sparks, Eduardo Terrazas, and Benji Whalen, That Which Binds Us is drawn entirely from recently acquired works of art in the museum’s collection.   

The Buffalo AKG has an active acquisitions program through which it continually grows its collection, seeking out artworks representing the most influential voices of twenty-first-century contemporary art. While these acquisitions will often find their way into the galleries or special exhibitions, the museum’s goal is also to find ways to highlight them through thematic spotlight presentations.

This exhibition is curated by Holly E. Hughes, Godin-Spaulding Senior Curator for the Collection.

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About the Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Founded in 1862, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum (formerly the Albright-Knox Art Gallery) is the sixth oldest public art institution in the United States. For more than 160 years, the Buffalo AKG has collected, conserved, and exhibited the art of its time, often working directly with living artists. This tradition has given rise to one of the world’s most extraordinary collections of modern and contemporary art.

In June 2023, following the completion of the most significant campus development and expansion project in its history, the Buffalo AKG opened anew to the public. The project was funded by a $230 million capital campaign, the largest such campaign for a cultural institution in the history of Western New York, including $195 million raised for construction and $35 million in additional operating endowment funds.

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