Mother and Child Vol. I

Mother and Child was Sugarlift's response to the family separation crisis at the US-Mexico border in the summer of 2018: a free, one-night exhibition on Monday, July 9, at 198 Allen Street on the Lower East Side. All of the proceeds from sales went to four organizations providing legal defense and aid to separated families: RAICES, The Young Center, The Florence Project and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND).

About 30 artists made and donated small works on the mother and child theme, a relationship that runs through art history from Renaissance Madonnas to scenes of everyday life. Some took it on directly, like Alonsa Guevara's nursing mother and Nicolas V. Sanchez's ballpoint portrait of a baby. Others evoked the bond through figurative and abstract imagery, from Chiaozza's cut-paper Big Hug to the collages Lauren Matsumoto made together with her son.

Five hundred people RSVPed, and on the night the storefront gallery filled with artists, collectors and representatives of the partner organizations, with tacos, ice cream, sake and cookies from the event's sponsors. New York Magazine's The Cut featured the show ahead of the opening. "At Mother & Child, you could feel a joint energy in the air," said the artist Vicky Barranguet.