As we have all been required to spend concentrated time in our homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic spaces have developed new contexts and significance. Through humor, tragedy, the magical and the mundane, the artists in Domestic State explore the meaning and narrative of domestic spaces and objects. Han Seok You photographs himself in the US and Korea, in an effort to define what “home” means. Manal Abu Shaheen’s series Julian follows the experiences of her brother, a Lebanese-American single father, raising his family on a Pennsylvania farm. Elizabeth Duffy’s installations and objects allude to the apparent comforts of home while revealing its contradictions. Shabnam Janessari’s saturated paintings depict spaces that empower the complex realities of Iranian female identity. In addition to work by contemporary artists, pieces from Wheaton’s Permanent Collection offer a contrast between past and present.

Featured artists include: Manal Abu Shaheen, Maria G. Baker, Elizabeth Duffy, Shabnam Janessari, Andrew Raftery, and Han Seok You.