The Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts (AEIVA) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham presents “Living and Working,” a survey exhibition of artist Erin Jane Nelson, running through September 26. This is Nelson’s largest solo exhibition to date and her first survey, spanning a decade of her practice across photography, textiles, and ceramics. The exhibition will travel to the Knoxville Museum of Art in August 2027, and AEIVA is co-publishing an exhibition catalog with Institute 193. The opening reception is May 21, and free community programming includes summer drop-in tours, a pinhole camera workshop, Science Nights in partnership with the Birmingham Zoo, and a chamber music event.
The exhibition matters because it highlights a significant emerging artist whose work directly addresses climate anxiety and ecological change through a deeply personal and regional lens. By grounding speculative futures in the material histories of the southeastern United States, Nelson’s practice offers a model for how contemporary art can engage with environmental precarity while remaining rooted in everyday life. The show also demonstrates AEIVA’s commitment to presenting ambitious solo surveys and fostering community engagement through interdisciplinary programming that connects art, science, and music.