Angel Archives, a Brooklyn-based collective founded in 2025 by Emma Long and Audrey Roloff, will present its group exhibition 'Angels' on July 17 at Studio 45 in East Williamsburg. The show features 18 artists working across various mediums, each reimagining angels as protectors, guides, and spiritual presences. Themes include grief, sacred imagery, purity, and the tension between the unreachable and the real. Featured artists include Audrey Roloff, Ashley Walia, Autumn Kidd, Charlie Rudalavage, Claire Porter Manning, EC Brooks, Eden Weinstein, Emma Long, Fiona Murphy, Jade Groobman, Julia Rose, Kaden Bard Dawson, Megan Liz Smith, Sara Carlsen, Sharon Yalan Li, pszygy, Why? Why Not? Because!, Henry Davis, and Charlotte Davis.
This exhibition matters because it exemplifies a growing movement of artist-run, community-focused spaces that challenge the profit-driven mainstream art world. Angel Archives was founded to support early-career and underrepresented artists, offering an accessible alternative to traditional galleries and museums. By reinterpreting the ancient symbol of angels through contemporary lenses of grief, identity, and spirituality, the show highlights how collective, non-commercial platforms can foster honest creative exchange and help young artists sustain their practice in expensive cities like New York.