On View

September 29 — December 9 | Wednesday—Saturday, 1–6pm

BCA Mills Gallery, 551 Tremont St., Boston, MA 02116

 

Opening Reception

Friday, Sept 29 | 6–9pm

BCA Mills Gallery, 551 Tremont St., Boston, MA 02116

The opening reception for R. Galvan: Hold Me Harder, a Project Room show, is part of a full evening of programming at BCA. Also taking place in the Mills Gallery from 6-9, BCA hosts the opening reception for Cristóbal Cea: No Monsters, No Paradise, and from 5:30-8pm, BCA Studio Residents open their doors for an Open House in the Artist Studios Building next door.

RSVP here | Please have your ticket ready for check-in

Please note: Masks are optional. Respect for others’ choices is required.

 

R. Galvan: Hold Me Harder explores the themes of time, memory, and repressed trauma through intimate scale drawings of teddy bears rendered in marker. These drawings prompt reflections on personal memories and the passage of time. Building depth and context for the project, gestural drawings inspired from “Story Hour” books, transcribed into life-sized vinyl wall decals, contrast individual memory with collective encounters.

Complementing the visuals, a diaristic text/drawing piece details a raw and introspective narrative, encouraging viewers to confront their own suppressed memories and feelings.

By creating a contemplative and safe space, Hold Me Harder fosters empathy and self-reflection, uniting viewers in a parallel journeys of narrative, healing and understanding. The project’s use of teddy bears, symbols of comfort, invite a shared exploration of the human connection and remembering.

R. Galvan is a studio artist based in Medford, MA. Their practice focuses on vanity and on the role systems play in shaping an understanding of memory and the self. With a special focus on queerness and Latinx subjectivity, their work manifests as sculpture, image making, and critical research and writing.

Galvan received a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. They were the 2018-2019 postdoctoral fellow at Duke University’s program in Latino/a Studies in the Global South. Galvan has exhibited work at the National Humanities Center, the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, and internationally at the University of Coimbra (Coimbra, Portugal). They are a studio resident at Boston Center for the Arts.