Modified Arts on Roosevelt Row reopened in October after a lengthy pandemic hiatus. This is good news for the city’s cultural life, as Modified Arts has played a key role in developing the Phoenix arts and music scene over the years. The venue decided to temporarily close during the first wave of closings when concerns about Covid-19 caused the NBA to suspend the 2019-20 season and the organizers of South by Southwest decided to cancel their 2020 festival. At that time, the artists Christopher Jagmin, Ann Morton and Safwat Saleem were preparing to install a joint exhibition. But this exhibition, like others who were supposed to follow it, never took place. Instead, the gallery found a way to adapt to the pandemic life. “We had a few months of downtime, but then we started organizing window installations and incorporating more performance work,” says Merryn Omotayo Alaka, a Phoenix-based artist who serves as the gallery’s director and curator. Related Stories I Support Local Community Journalism Support the independent voice of Phoenix and help keep the future of the New Times clear. Their red brick building at 407 East Roosevelt Street has a wide array of windows facing the street that have been found useful in adapting to pandemic life. The audience could see the indoor performance from the street, and artists had a creative canvas to display film and visual arts. “It turned out to be a great way to work with artists from different backgrounds,” says Alaka. “I think we’ll do that more often in the future.” Click to enlarge Douglas Miles showed Future Intercepts in the windows of Modified Arts in April 2021. Modified Arts Now that the interior is open again at regular times, works of art fill the walls . Your first new exhibition is called “Homeland (In) Security”. It opened on the third Friday on October 15th and will last until November 13th. Featured artists include Gloria Martinez-Granados, Karen Nazario, Elizabeth Pineda, and Yvette Serrano. Together they explore a range of personal and political issues related to identity, memories, isolation, relocation, immigration, belonging and home. These are topics that resonate in the double context of pandemic life and political upheaval in Arizona and beyond. click to enlarge Poster of the current exhibition at Modified Arts. Modified Arts “Much of this work was done during the pandemic, and it’s interesting to see how these artists use different materials and styles to address similar concerns,” adds Alaka. Alaka says she is still refining the exhibition line-up for the next few months, including working on rescheduling artists whose shows have not opened due to the pandemic. In March 2022, Modified Arts is showing a new exhibition by Jagmin, Morton and Saleem who have decided to do new work instead of just assembling the exhibition planned for March 2020. The gallery turned out to be during its pandemic hiatus. Miguel Monzón, an artist who had served as gallery director, decided to focus on his MFA program at ASU, and Alaka went from curatorial assistant to head of the creative space. In the midst of the pandemic, she has given a lot of thought to how she would like to activate the gallery in the future. “I’ve done studio visits with some artists who are new to Phoenix and long-time artists who have never had a show at Modified Arts,” she says. “My goal as a black artist and woman has always been to bring more diversity to the space and explore more gender issues,” adds Alaka. She plans to hire guest curators who can help make this happen. A lot has happened since the gallery celebrated its 20th anniversary with “A City, Modified”, an exhibition that opened on the first Friday in November 2019. “The gallery has such an important history and role in the community and I really want to assure you that we will continue to be relevant.”
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