Artist and writer Sarah Hotchkiss recounts two personal experiences where galleries and residency programs used standard contracts to limit artists' rights. In the first, a new gallery refused to shorten a six-month consignment period after an exhibition, leaving her work in "contractual limbo" where she would owe the gallery half of any sale even if she found the buyer herself. In the second, a residency required her to waive moral rights under the Visual Artists Rights Act, protections that allow artists to prevent distortion and control attribution of their work.
This article matters because it exposes how routine legal documents—often dismissed as formalities—can quietly erode artists' autonomy and financial interests. By sharing her own story, Hotchkiss highlights a systemic power imbalance in the art world, where institutions prioritize protecting objects over protecting the people who create them. The piece serves as a practical warning and a call for artists to read contracts carefully, and for the industry to adopt fairer, more transparent terms.