All The Places We Belong

Exhibition Title: "All the Places We Belong"

Opening reception: First Friday March 7 at 4:00 to 8:00
Closing Reception: Thursday June 12th

"All the Places We Belong" examines the interplay between identity, memory, and domestic spaces through the works of Arts District’s most recent Emerging Artists in Residence, Sean Sarmiento and Gracie Moon. In a culmination of their 6 month visual arts residency, the work of both artists navigate the psychological and cultural resonance of home, shaping it as a space where identity is formed, questioned, and reclaimed.

Sean’s collages romanticize the intimacy of home through the use of typography, domestic architecture, and warm amber tones. By incorporating imagery of stove lights, night lights, and everyday objects, Sean transforms familiar household elements into expansive emotional horizons. His work reimagines the home as a stage for vulnerability, familial connection, and deep introspection, inviting viewers to feel cared for as they might within their own safe spaces. Drawing from the vernacular qualities of architecture, its patterns, materials, and instinctual design, Sean emphasizes how memory and care are intrinsically tied to the spaces we inhabit.

Gracie’s work, in contrast, critically examines how heritage and identity are shaped and commodified within the domestic sphere. Her art is deeply informed by childhood memories of gatherings where Japanese and American dishes shared the same table, a convergence that reflects her multiracial experience. Through jello molds holding Japanese food wrappers, cast produce with staring googly-eyes, and Pinterest boards of Japanese pop culture, Gracie questions how Western-centric narratives often reduce culture to commodifiable objects.

In her exploration, Gracie shapes conversations around home and identity, blending personal history with speculative narratives. Her works reflect on the unspoken stories of her grandparents' assimilation, whose experiences during and after wartime remain absent from family memory. By revisiting these silences, Gracie’s art becomes a means of expressing and reclaiming identity, offering a space to connect with heritage while challenging the authenticity of inherited narratives.

Together, Sean and Gracie’s practices reimagine the home as a site of profound engagement—a place where care and critique coexist, and where memory and identity are continuously shaped and reshaped. "All the Places We Belong" invites viewers to reflect on their own experiences of belonging, encouraging an appreciation for the intimate, complex, and layered spaces we inhabit both physically and socially.

Learn more about the Emerging Artist Visual Arts Residency here.

Learn more about Arts District’s Curators in Residence, The Hill Street Country Club here.

About the Artists:

Gracie Moon
Gracie Moon is a San Diego-based sculpture artist and emerging graduate from Point Loma Nazarene University (BA, Visual Arts, 2024). Her work investigates the intersections of racial and cultural identity, heritage, and domesticity. As a multiracial Japanese American, Gracie explores the complexities of living in an in-between space, oscillating between breaking, mending, losing, and finding. Her sculptures often incorporate food, found objects, and domestic materials to create visual poetry that examines cultural commodification and self-connection.
Gracie draws from personal experiences, such as family gatherings where Japanese and American dishes coexisted on one table, and visits to Japanese markets that sparked her fascination with identity through commodified goods. Her art critiques how Western-centric narratives reduce Japanese culture to objects, while also reflecting the absence of historical context from her family, particularly the unspoken stories of her grandparents during wartime incarceration. Through pieces like jello molds of Japanese dishes and quilts made from nori, Gracie crafts speculative narratives that reclaim heritage and invite viewers to reflect on the complexities of cultural identity.

Sean Sarmiento
Sean Sarmiento is a mixed-media artist and a graduate of the University of San Diego (BA, Visual Arts, 2023), where he received departmental honors and awards for exceptional performance. His practice bridges photography, collage, sculpture, and installation to explore themes of home, Queer identity, and the domestic sphere. Sean uses his art to challenge traditional architectural and photographic norms, using them as a framework to craft intimate, inclusive, and emotionally resonant representations of home. Through this lens, Sean’s work transforms domestic spaces into sanctuaries of belonging and affirmation, highlighting the profound connection between identity and the familiar rhythms of daily life
Sean’s work highlights the "in-betweenness" of identity, capturing moments and feelings that are simultaneously unknown and familiar. Through self-portraits within domestic spaces and the manipulation of photographic elements, Sean reimagines home as a site of inclusion and emotional resonance. His works often incorporate innovative materials, such as folded vinyl and layered prints, to blur the boundaries between two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms, creating a tactile and immersive experience.