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Vessel: To Hold and be Held by Rose Jaffe
Join us at the German cultural institute Goethe-Institut Washington for the exhibition Vessel: To Hold and be Held, by Washington, DC-based artist Rose Jaffe.
Opening Reception & Artist Talk: Thursday, May 28, 2026, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
On view through July 23, 2026
In "Vessel: To Hold and be Held", Rose Jaffe explores the body and mind as containers—investigating what we carry, what we release, and the invisible expectations placed upon us. These transatlantic works evolved from a 2018 Berlin residency. It was there, immersed for six months in the city’s creative landscape, with visits to the international artistic hubs of Leipzig and Hamburg, that Jaffe began exploring collective consciousness and producing work inspired by overlapping body forms.
The visual language matured as the artist worked between Mexico and Washington, DC. These woodblock and monotype prints draw on organic forms — flowers, roots, leaves — as symbols of cycles of holding and letting go. During a residency in Mexico, Rose incorporated found materials from local markets — corn husks, netting, sponges — weaving the textures of place directly into the work. “Nature, as always, serves as both language and mirror: its forms remind us that to be a vessel is not only to contain, but to be shaped, softened, and transformed by what we carry.” (Rose Jaffe)
