Alum Julia Haft-Candell’s (BA ‘05) solo show “Carrier Bag of Fiction” will open at the Candice Madey Gallery in New York City this November 13 and run until January 23, 2021. The exhibition title references Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, in which Le Guin explores millennia-old storytelling traditions that favor conflict and violence, weaponizing fiction to reinforce the myths of the hero and the strongman. Alternatively, Le Guin proffers a concept of fiction as a carrier bag or vessel used to gather the collective activities of everyday people.

Haft-Candell’s work often references science fiction and feminist writers. The epigraph of her Glossary of Terms and Symbols, a book and related series of watercolors started in 2017 shares Le Guin’s interest in the slippery and often gendered meaning of language and symbols. 

In conjunction with the exhibition, Haft-Candell will offer a reading list. Periodic reading circles will be hosted via zoom, with the artist, gallery and the public in conversation on topics of world building, the role of storytelling in history and the inventive potential of science fiction. The first reading will include Le Guin’s The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction (1986) and the introduction to The Left Hand of Darkness (1976). Please visit the gallery website for dates and details. 

Julia Haft-Candell: In Conversation is now available on vimeo here.

Candice Madey
1 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002