HERS | A Celebration of Women Creativity
- RCI USA
- Feb 5
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 10
Exhibition Opening & Art Talk part of the Annual Women`s Show, 3rd edition
About The Event
HERS is a group exhibition that foregrounds the multiplicity of female voices in contemporary art, bringing together ten women artists whose practices span painting, sculpture, installation, and photography.
Rather than advancing a singular narrative, HERS embraces plurality. Each artist engages with distinct modes of storytelling—intimate, symbolic, psychological, or social. The works on view address lived realities, inner worlds, memory, intimacy, resilience, and imagination, inviting the audience into a complex panorama of contemporary concerns shaped by multiple identities and individual histories.
Rooted in personal narratives yet resonating within broader social and cultural contexts, HERS offers a deep exploration of the female universe in its most expansive sense—one that resists fixed definitions and instead foregrounds nuance, contradiction, and transformation.
The exhibition unfolds through a range of artistic approaches and sensibilities: Ioana Gorzo explores the playful and formative experiences of womanhood and first love; Rita Salt draws on the language of fairy tales and symbolism; Colleen Barry examines feisty, she-wolf symbolistic, and “alpha” female figures; and Ioana Aron reflects on domestic space and emotional labor, using everyday gestures—such as dirty dishes—as metaphors for interpersonal tension and psychological states. Ji Zou presents uncanny female representations that challenge perception and familiarity, while Miriam Bloom’s sculptural figures evoke presence, vulnerability, and strength. Jaimee Todd revisits abstract narratives from her neighborhood and personal past, Rossana Romero visualizes the dreams and inner worlds of Indigenous women, Ramathillai C. offers an introspective photographic inquiry into identity, and Luana Seu captures compelling images of women working within the arts.
Together, these practices generate a layered and dynamic dialogue—one that celebrates difference while affirming the essential role of women’s voices in shaping contemporary art and culture.
The exhibition also features a dedicated photography section, curated by Raluca Anchidin.
BRÂNCUṢI GALLERY
Romanian Cultural Institute
200 East 38th Street, New York City, NY 10016
Gallery Hours: 9 AM - 5 PM, Monday-Friday
Meet the Artists
Colleen Barry (b. 1981, USA) is a Brooklyn-based oil painter whose work blends classical technique with contemporary themes. Drawing on influences from Renaissance masters to modern visual culture, her paintings explore archetypal femininity, maternity, strength, and transformation through luminous, symbolic imagery. Barry began her career creating paintings for film studios in New York and Hollywood at the age of 21 and later studied at the American Academy in Rome. She currently serves as Director of Drawing at the Grand Central Atelier, where she mentors emerging artists.
Ioana Aron (Romania ) is a contemporary visual artist who lives and works between Bucharest, Paris, and New York, whose interdisciplinary practice encompasses painting, in situ installation, performance, and the use of personal journals as working material within an autobiographical approach that conceptually reconfigures the language of painting. She studied at the National University of Arts in Bucharest and received international scholarships at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera (Milan) and HEAR Mulhouse. In 2024, she completed a PhD in Visual Arts at the National University of Arts in Bucharest with the dissertation Text–Image in the Media Environment. Since 2020, she has been the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the artist-run magazine E T A J. In 2020, she authored and published the monograph The Field. IL Y A with the Triade Art Foundation, now part of the collection of the National Museum of Contemporary Art of Romania. Her exhibition activity includes solo and group presentations in museums and contemporary art spaces in Romania and internationally, such as MNAC Bucharest, MNȚRplusC, Centrul de Interes Cluj, Art Safari, the Brukenthal National Museum, Galerie des Artistes Paris, and Satellite Art Gallery New York. She has completed artist residencies at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris; Arthaus, Havana; and through the European Artistic Program (Barcelona–Paris). Her awards and grants include the Brâncuși Grant (2019), the Mother/Artist Exhibition Prize (2022), the Intact Cultural Foundation Prize for Dans Ma Rue (2024), and the Culture Moves Europe grant from the Goethe-Institut (2024).
Ioana Gorzo (Romania) is an alumna of the National University of Arts in Bucharest, Romania, where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts and Accademia delle Belle Arti in Rome, Italy, where she completed an advanced degree in painting. Her work has been presented internationally in Europe and U.S.A. reflecting a dynamic range of contexts and audiences. Ioana Gorzo's most recent exhibitions include Galerie Leuenroth, Frankfurt, (DE); Lahovari, Palace Bucharest, (RO); Arsmonitor Gallery in Bucharest and the Museum Banatului Montan Resita, (RO) and /SAC, Comenduirea Garnizoanei, Timisoara, (RO). Ioana Gorzo lives and works in Bucharest, Romania.
Jaimee Todd ( USA ) is a multidisciplinary artist who currently works and resides in New York City. Her current body of work focuses on abstract painting and 3D “floating” collage. She has exhibited her work in various prominent venues which include Bergdorf Goodman, Instagram headquarters, Apple, the National Black Theatre, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Rutgers University-Newark, and the U.S. State Department. Recognized for her talent and contributions to the arts, Todd served as an artist fellow through the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning ARTworks. As an artist in residence for Art On The Block, she taught artist workshops and also had a sold out exhibition.
Born in Canton, Ohio, Ji Zou is a Brooklyn-based painter working in mixed media. Their work occupies the space between the surreal and the figurative, using the painted surface as a site of translation — where inner states, perceptions, and psychological landscapes find form in the visible world.
Luana Seu is a Romanian photographer whose work seamlessly blends fine art craftsmanship with cinematic storytelling. Her practice is dedicated to creating “worlds” rooted in allegorical themes, where each image is meticulously crafted to reflect a diverse range of subjects, cultural narratives, and human experiences. Combining technical precision with emotional depth, Luana approaches her photography as both an art form and a collaborative process, working closely with clients to bring their unique stories to life.
Miriam Bloom is an American artist who creates asymmetric, biomorphic sculptures situated at the boundary between representation and abstraction. Her sculptures begin as small sketches and clay maquettes and then find their new life in papier-mache, terracotta, or plaster forms. Often taking several years to construct one sculpture, her objects are artistic meditations, meticulously formed with gaps, holes, and inconsistencies intended to offer room for the spirit. Conceptually, her organic forms are influenced by the beauty in irregularity and asymmetry similarly found in the visual art of Jean Arp, Louise Bourgeois, and Constantin Brancusi. Bloom is also inspired by Ancestral Puebloan vessels, the Hindu lingam, and the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi. Her unique fusion of rich cultural streams in conversation with contemporary sensibilities creates a complex beauty in simplicity.
Ramathillai Chockalingam is an Indian fine art and portrait photographer based in New York City. Her work explores themes of identity, intimacy, and self-realization, often drawing from personal experience and the narratives she encounters through life. She completed a one-year conservatory program in Photography at the New York Film Academy, where she refined both her technical precision and conceptual approach to image-making. Her work has been featured in international publications, including Vigour Magazine, Inframe Magazine, and Moevir Magazine. Through bold and intimate compositions, Chockalingam crafts scenes that are raw, immersive, and emotionally resonant. Her practice approaches portraiture as a site of emotional and psychological exploration, examining the layered complexities of human presence.
Rita Salt (France) lives in a castle in Rhode Island with her cat Trolls, her dog Beef, and a couple of other art wizards. Salt weaves together elements of folklore to conjure rich narratives, which reflect the duality of childhood. Salt’s latest work in ceramic reveals an interplay of innocence with the uncanny, heightened through her use of vibrant glazes and a compulsively expressive hand. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY in 2017, and has done residencies in Germany, Italy, Sweden, Portugal, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and Iceland. In October 2024, she had her first major solo show at Entrance Gallery in New York City. Her work has also been exhibited in Los Angeles CA, Auckland New Zealand, Leipzig Germany, Milan Italy, Reno NV and Pawtucket Rhode Island.
Rossana Romero is a Colombian visual artist based in New York. Her work explores themes of family, migration, environmental change, and cultural history through oil painting and paper mache sculpture. Drawing inspiration from Wangechi Mutu, Beatriz González, and Gabriel García Márquez, she merges portraiture and landscapes, blending Western European and Indigenous mythology to construct surreal narratives. Her work invites viewers into a world where personal identity and collective history intertwine, sparking dialogue on erased histories and contemporary social issues. Beyond artistic expression, Romero sees her practice as a spiritual offering, a way to honor her guides and ancestors. Her immersive, symbolic storytelling bridges past and present, urging viewers to confront the complexities of history and its ongoing impact.
Meet the Curator of the Photography Showcase
Raluca Anchidin is a Romanian-born, US-based curator and advisor focused on community-driven, cross-disciplinary exhibitions. She founded the Sunnyside Art Walk in Queens and, in 2025, launched ankydyn gallery, a nomadic gallery supporting emerging and mid-career contemporary artists, with an in-person debut during Art Basel Week in Miami. Before transitioning to the cultural sector, she spent a decade in B2B advertising and digital media. She holds a Master’s in Media and Communications from Brunel University, UK.
