Familiar Strangers, a new group show featuring alum and lecturer Deirdre White (MFA, ‘93), opens this Saturday at Manna Gallery.

Familiar Strangers presents work by seven Bay Area figurative artists exploring the shifting relationships between memory, identity, and image. In a time when identity is constantly performed, recorded, and revised, the exhibition focuses on the unstable space where perception and recollection overlap, where what we see, remember, and share is never entirely fixed. The works embrace a deliberate ambiguity, reflecting the blur of digital culture, the fragility of memory, and the subjectivity of observation. Across their practices, these artists consider how personal and collective histories are shaped, obscured, and reimagined, inviting viewers to reflect on how images influence the stories we tell about ourselves and one another.

On view from May 16 – June 20, 2026 .
Artist Reception:  Saturday May 16 from 2-4p