Is it possible to fully understand another person’s point of view? This exhibition features works by nine contemporary artists that reckon with how we empathize. Stemming from the Greek terms em - “in” and pathos - “feeling,” empathy implies the action of understanding or experiencing the feelings and thoughts of another. Yet the practice of empathizing—being aware of and sensitive to the experience of someone else—can also engender tensions relating to one’s own position and expectations. In Feeling explores the relationship between empathy and tension through lived experiences of disability, highlighting perspectives that challenge assumptions about ways of being and living. The works in the exhibition engage with themes surrounding communication, connection, and rest, asking us to reimagine how we understand each other.
In Feeling is not only an exhibition about disability. Rather, it is a space that explores the generative possibilities that arise when artists disrupt socially constructed ideas about ability, normalcy, and productivity. Museums have traditionally reinforced these ideas by promoting behaviors and rules that uplift abled bodies over disabled bodies. This exhibition instead invites practices of connection: it asks questions, offers multiple ways to engage, and encourages interaction. What happens when we are no longer guided by difference or expectation? What can happen when we just feel?
Co-curated by Molly Joyce, Dean’s Doctoral Fellow, Department of Music, and Kristen Nassif, Curator of Collections. Initial support provided by Hannah Cattarin, former Associate Curator.
This exhibition is supported by an Arts Enhancement Grant from the Office of the Provost and the Vice Provost of the Arts at the University of Virginia and Crozier Fine Arts. Additional support for this exhibition comes from the Angle Exhibition Fund. The Fralin Museum of Art’s educational programming is generously sponsored by The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation. We also wish to thank our in-kind donors: WTJU 91.1 FM and Ivy Publications LLC’s Charlottesville Welcome Book.
August 30, 2025 – January 4, 2026
Liza Sylvestre (b.1988). Interference 7/26/2021, 2021. Ink on paper, 18 x 24 in (45.7 x 61 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
image description: A sheet of off-white paper pinned to a wall, densely filled with small, irregular black ink marks resembling dots, dashes, and fragments of handwriting. The markings are arranged in a grid-like pattern, suggesting the format of written text, but are largely illegible, evoking a sense of obscured or lost communication.
Accessibility
Access and accessibility are foundational to disability culture, and their definitions hold power in their complexity. Artist Carolyn Lazard describes access as a speculative practice, an “ongoing, creatively generative conversation that evolves with the needs of the community.” Access can take many forms: physical, such as ramps in place of stairs; financial, such as sliding scale or pay-what-you-wish pricing; and even relational, as with the concept of access intimacy. Coined by writer Mia Mingus, access intimacy refers to “that elusive, hard-to-describe feeling when someone else ‘gets’ your access needs.”
In many museum spaces, accessibility measures are an afterthought, added late in the process and treated like a checklist. In this exhibition, we’ve taken a different approach. Accessibility has been woven into the planning process from the start: from our curatorial approach and artist involvement to decisions about seating and signage.
We acknowledge that our approach is imperfect—and that access, by nature, is never finished. As many in disability culture note, access is something continually negotiated and reimagined. Some of the measures in this exhibition include:
Artist-to-artist description. Each work is described by a fellow exhibiting artist, offering visual or aural access through an intimate, community-centered voice, presented alongside the curatorial labels.
QR codes via NaviLens. NaviLens is an innovative technology that uses colorful, QR-style codes that can be detected from a long distance and at multiple angles. Scan the code via your mobile device camera or the NaviLens app to access detailed information about each piece, listen to audio descriptions, and customize your viewing experience.
Multimodal engagement. This exhibition includes visual, aural, and tactile artworks, providing multiple entry points for interaction and engagement. Some benches and pillows are equipped with vibrotactile technology (developed by VibraFusion Lab) that transforms sound into vibration—allowing aural material to be felt through touch.
User and design consultants. We worked with the Institute for Human Centered Design during exhibition planning, focusing on elements such as visual contrast, navigable pathways, and digital accessibility. We also collaborated with User Experts Andy Slater and Lindsay Jones to ensure that accessibility measures were thoughtful and inclusive.
Contribute your description
We invite you to join in this process. Click here or the image below to contribute your own description of one or more artworks in the exhibition:
