Free Parking | Priscilla Briggs and Cameron Jarvis

They contemplate the implications and histories of our designed infrastructure, ideas of access and freedom versus disruption and destruction. Visual and physical artifacts collected along the way become the material of their artwork. In the gallery, the works are arranged as a mapping of their travels and thoughts, beliefs and discoveries. Combining photography, painting, collage, and found objects, this mapping represents a visual conversation between these two artists.

In speaking about his process, Cameron says, “I collect objects because the real world will always communicate more directly yet with more complexity than any painting I could ever conceive of. A forgotten food wrapper or a scrap of rubber from a traffic cone has its own history, place of origin, meaning, and relationship to everything nearby. I think about color, shape, pattern and texture when I decide to pick something up. In some ways it is like finding a single brushstroke already made that I can pick up and keep, and add to a painting at just the right moment.” Similarly, Priscilla says, “I am interested in how identity is shaped by systems and context. I often photograph objects as artifacts that represent the idea of a culture and its particular fetishes at a specific time and place. I photograph objects as reflections of shared, collective identities. For this project, I also photographed objects that Cameron collected and collaged them into my landscape photographs to make connections between car culture and our experience of, and impact on, the environment."

Priscilla and Cameron invite you to visit the gallery and immerse yourself in the experience of Free Parking. Where do you see yourself in this visual space? What is our shared experience? How are we connected in ways that are beyond our control? How can we build a future together?

Priscilla Briggs, based in Minneapolis, MN, investigates the intersection of capitalism with issues of identity, social justice and the environment. Her artwork has been supported by numerous grants, most notably the McKnight Foundation, the Puffin Foundation, and the Minnesota State Arts Board. Her work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as the Saatchi Gallery in London, the Landskrona Photo Salon in Sweden, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, the Musei San Domenico in Forlì, Italy, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Her artist monograph, Impossible Is Nothing: China’s Theater of Consumerism, was published by Daylight Books. Many images from the book were created during artist residencies at the Chinese European Art Center in Xiamen and Art Channel in Beijing. Priscilla recently launched Rose Bramble Books, an artist zine/book platform. Her work has been featured in print and online publications such as European Photography Magazine, Newsweek Japan, Photo District News, Hyperallergic, L’oeil de la Photographie, Lenscratch, and F-Stop Magazine.

Priscilla received an MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and is currently a Professor of Studio Art at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota. She is a member of Rosalux Gallery and the FotoMatter Collective.

Cameron Jarvis is a visual artist and multi-instrumental musician from Cottage Grove, Minnesota who traces the movement of Black People across land and water, and investigates the many environments we inhabit by collecting, archiving and recontextualizing images, objects and materials. Allusions to cars and driving culture filter into his art because they symbolize a uniquely American idea of freedom. Car infrastructure dominates our urban landscape, and allows us to dominate the vast distances that make up this nation.

In 2019 Cameron received his MFA in Painting from Tyler School of Art and Architecture (Philadelphia, PA). He earned his BA in Studio Art and Music Performance in 2015 from Gustavus Adolphus College (Saint Peter, MN). He spent the spring of 2014 studying painting at Slade School of Fine Art (London, UK). Recent solo projects include One, Two, Or One Half an album recorded during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, and now available on Bandcamp via Cold Rhymes Records (Philadelphia, PA); God Could My Dad Drive A Car… Whoo!, a print edition and exhibition in collaboration with Pressure Club (Philadelphia PA); and VERSIONS / I LIKE LIKE his 2019 MFA thesis exhibition at Temple Contemporary (Philadlphia, PA). Cameron has also exhibited art in Dark Sousveillance curated by Logan Cryer at Vox Polpuli Gallery, and Testing Grounds a show curated by Alex Nazar and Austen Camille at Cherry Street Pier (Philadelphia, PA).

Websites:
Priscilla Briggs: priscillabriggs.com
or Cameron Jarvis: cameronjarvisart.com

Gallery Hours:
Saturday and Sunday from 12-4 PM or by appointment.

Image: (Detail) Priscilla Briggs, Affordable Rates, Archival Ink Print, 20” x 27”, 2025