OFF CAMPUS LOCATION: Mason Exhibitions Arlington, 3601 Fairfax Drive, Arlington VA 22201; adjacent to George Mason’s Mason Square Campus

On View Wednesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Join College of Visual and Performing Arts alumna, Brianna Camp, (BFA, Art and Visual Technology, 2023), for her art exhibition: Flare: Finding a Sense of Place in the Chronically Ill Body.

Through large-scale self-portraits rendered in oil paint, and corresponding poetry, Flare: Finding a Sense of Place in the Chronically Ill Body, explores the concept of a flare, or a sudden burst. The exhibition includes a rotation of documentary photography that artist Brianna Camp collected over the last ten years during walks around Royal Lake Park in Fairfax, Virginia. Royal Lake became significant to Camp as she learned to navigate living with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, a chronic illness that greatly impacted her adolescence and early adult life. Traversing the 1.8 -mile loop, through thick woods and along the water’s edge, began as a habitual coping mechanism and evolved into an almost spiritual ritual. Over time, Camp noticed the way the lake itself seems to flare.

The paintings and poetry depict the changing landscape of the earth and water, mirrored by the changing landscape of the body. The exhibition explores themes of grief, isolation, radical acceptance, and self-trust, by asking: What could it mean to cultivate a sense of place within the body? How can we commit to a place that is always changing? What does it look like to navigate a constant dance of simultaneous grief and healing?

During the opening and closing receptions, Camp will share a brief artist talk about the work, followed by a question-and-answer session with guests.

The exhibition is on view Wednesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at Mason Exhibitions Arlington. Admission is free and open to the public.