If a new year ushers in a restored resolve to visit Palm Beach County’s artistic havens, the recently reopened Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach is the ideal starting point. Beginning January 2, its galleries will house three exhibitions that navigate the realms of immigration, systemic injustice, and racialized violence.
The Norton will host Colombian artist María Berrío’s first solo museum exhibition, “Esperando Mientras la Noche Florece” (“Waiting for the Night to Bloom”) in the museum’s eighth Recognition of Art by Women (RAW) series. Berrío creates expansive layers of Japanese paper that come together as fantastical natural vistas or modest domestic scenes. She explores the duality of resilience and vulnerability, particularly through her depictions of such dichotomies found in nature and within women. The Brooklyn-based artist’s survey will coincide with a residency through February.
Venture through the museum to “Jose Alvarez (D.O.P.A.): The Krome Drawings,” featuring 30 ink portraits Alvarez made during his time in Miami’s Krome immigration detention center a decade ago. The moving portraits of fellow detainees will be accompanied by their stories, humanizing and illuminating an often-shrouded issue.
Close out a tour of the Norton with “Art Finds a Way,” a profound survey of works that dive into issues of racial injustice, as well as pieces that invite reflection following an unprecedented year.