Paroxysm brings together 65 artists working across sculpture, painting, photography, video, and performance to explore and diagnose the worsening physical, mental, and social symptoms of our disordered world. Catalyzed by recent events, this group exhibition explores underlying chronic social diseases such as racism, misogyny, bigotry, xenophobia, and ableism. 

From para- ‘beyond’ and oxus- ‘sharp,’ paroxysm is defined as a sudden attack or violent expression of a disease, emotion, or activity. This cohort of artists, based in the United States and abroad, grapple with outbreaks of social and systemic violences that have sparked paroxysms of mental and bodily illness worldwide. The psychological impacts of isolation, the spread of infection, the marginalization of identity, and threats to bodily autonomy are all made visible through Paroxysm’s array of introspective works.

A paroxysm marks a moment of climax. The siren wails. The glass cracks. The body spasms. The works in this exhibition embody a sense of accumulation and surfacing—of emotions, inequities, traumas, catastrophes, physical symptoms—and the resulting effects on the body and psyche. The artists transform these pivotal moments into psychosomatic expressions that reflect and address our collective and individual experiences. Paroxysm’s engagement with these shared multi-sensory experiences go beyond today’s contagions, inviting viewers to consider the ailments that have been building in our collective corpus for centuries.