If Anyone Can Hear This

"We have just barely emerged from the era of Covid isolation, and have now quickly found ourselves thrust into one of mass collective action. This journey that we've all been on, and the plethora of emotions that it stirs, has left me asking ‘what does it mean to search for one's tribe?’ " writes curator Scott Vincent Campbell. "I don't necessarily mean people who are the same as you, or even similar, but the puzzle pieces that are meant to be around you, and fit your own irregular and contorted edges. This question served as the organizing guide for this exhibition. Solitary figures looking for their match; not because they are lonely, but actually quite the opposite, self-actualized and honest they understand, in the end what's important are our relationships to one another. As PASC inaugurates this new gallery space, it only feels right to build an exhibition around the idea of individual pieces finding their larger puzzle."

The above quote represents the organizing principle for the first exhibition in PASC’s new permanent gallery in Detroit, an exhibition centered around a sympathetic community birthed during a moment of uncertainty. The PASC program started in January 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, as an idea to develop a studio and exhibition program to support the art career ambitions of disabled artists in Detroit and Wayne County. And as it grew, from one studio to three, from 30 artists to over 180, our internal and external community has expanded with us. If Anyone Can Hear This, is like an echo of the SOS of those early pandemic days, while also boldly checking the volume of this moment of fervent artistic expression.

The artworks in this exhibition span some of the earliest pieces produced at PASC to some of the most recent, and feature artists from all three PASC studios, Detroit, Westland, and Southgate. Some artworks represent figures in moments of quiet contemplation, others represent moments of struggle, while others merrily celebrate our human and non-human existence. Taken together this show represents the range of emotions, personalities and talents that make up the PASC program, recording our ups and downs from our launch date to this new uncharted chapter.

Scott Vincent Campbell is Midwest Programs Director at ICI, and is a visual artist and curator originally from New York City. He earned a BA in Fine Art from Haverford College in 2005, and just completed his MFA at The University of Chicago. Campbell’s work has been exhibited at institutions across the U.S., including the Urban Institute for Contemporary Art in Grand Rapids, MI; Library Street Collective in Detroit, MI; Big Medium in Austin, TX; and Pierogi Gallery in New York, NY. In 2017, he was the first Ford Curatorial Fellow at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. In addition to his own practice, Campbell joins ICI with over 15 years of experience working in galleries such as Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, Salon 94, P.P.O.W., and Red Bull Arts Detroit. 

Launched in 2021, PASC is the first progressive art and design studio and exhibition program in Detroit and Wayne County dedicated to supporting artists with developmental disabilities and mental health differences to advance artistic practices and build individual careers in the art and design fields. PASC is a program of Services to Enhance Potential (STEP), a non-profit service organization founded in 1972 that provides services and supports for more than 1,400 individuals with disabilities and mental health differences across Southeastern Michigan.

Our exhibitions program is supported with grants from the Michigan Arts and Cultural Council, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, the National Endowment for the Arts and from supporters like you.