Kick Off 2020 With Three Can't-Miss Gallery Shows

Finding Home, Finding Myself
Open Jan. 10 through Feb. 1, this poignant BayArts exhibit displays black-and-white and color photos Emma Wolpert shot during her trip to the orphanage where she lived until she was 8 months old in Huazhou, China, after being abandoned at a bus station. “When I went to visit, I knew I wanted to take as many photographs as I could, because it is where my life began,” Wolpert says. 28795 Lake Road, Bay Village, 440-871-6543, bayarts.net


Past Due
This Zygote Press exhibit, open Jan. 24 through Feb. 14, considers what is owed to Americans of African dissent through the eyes of seven artists, with work spanning original texts, sculpture, new media and embodied action. The exhibit dives into the idea of reparations, explored in the metaphor presented by past-due notices from bill collectors and landlords. “The persons who are poor in this country,” says curator Megan Young, “are constantly being told that they owe money or that they owe labor to this country.” 1410 E. 30th St., Cleveland, 216-621-2900, zygotepress.com


Sitting Flesh
The title of Nate Ricciuto’s Sculpture Center exhibit stems from a German phrase referring to someone’s ability to sit still and get the job done. From Jan. 24 to March 13, he explores the idea through mirror-laden immersive sculptures and architectural models, confronting how our restlessness in work may be exacerbated by technology. “The idea behind his installation,” says Grace Chin, the Sculpture Center’s executive director, “is to present technology in the way that [it] is necessary, but it is moving in a direction that we aren’t fully aware of.” 1834 E. 123rd St., Cleveland, 216-229-6527, sculpturecenter.org