The three exhibitions currently on view at Hillyer Art Space couldn’t be further apart, geographically or thematically. The largest, the group show Immigration in Ibero-America, samples the most unexpected pairings of the global melting pot—Afro-Peruvians, Asian Paraguayans, Haitian Chileans, Basque Salvadorans, and Kyrgyz immigrants in Portugal. A mix of brightly-colored images and quieter black-and-whites, the selection of photographs seems to have been chosen with maximum eccentricity in mind, and delivers a welcome jolt of freshness. By contrast, Katherine Akey’s The Arctic Smiles Now, a travelogue completed during an Arctic Circle residency, is dominated by its leaden, if sometimes starkly beautiful, atmospherics. With the exception of one image that features a lonely patch of green and brown tundra, plus a few portraits of unidentified subjects, virtually every photograph in Akey’s oeuvre seems to be showered in pale blue and fluffy white. The third exhibit, Land That We Love, of works by D.C.-based Ghanaian-American photographer Lloyd Kofi Foster, chronicles the uniform-wearing children of a school in poverty-stricken Sierra Leone. It’s easy to be charmed by the kids, who are winningly portrayed, but the most inspired of Foster’s pieces may be his photographs marked by paint, aluminum foil, netting, and dried roses. Read more>>> The exhibitions are on view daily to Dec. 17 at Hillyer Art Space, 9 Hillyer Court NW. Free. (202) 338-0325. athillyer.org. (Louis Jacobson)
EAT THIS
In celebration of Hanukkah, DGS Delicatessen is serving up a prix fixe menu with matzo ball soup with a duck fat matzoh ball, red wine-braised brisket, potato latkes, and cinnamon sugar doughnuts with grape jelly. The meal is available now through Dec. 19 and costs $35 per person. Wine pairings are an additional $15. DGS Delicatessen, 1317 Connecticut Ave. NW, (202) 293-4400, dgsdelicatessen.com. (Laura Hayes)
OH AND ALSO
Singer-songwriter Jake Smith, known as The White Buffalo, performs at 9:30 Club. 7 p.m. at 815 V St. NW. $20.
Jewish world music group the Robyn Helzner Trio performs at the Strathmore’s Mansion. 7:30 p.m. at 10701 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda. $20.
The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage presents a Holiday Vaudeville show, featuring host Sean Grissom, a Cajun cellist, and resident juggler and entertainer Jacob D’Eustachio, plus Klezmer quartet Alexandria Kleztet. 6 p.m. at 2700 F St. NW. Free.
For the first time in history, the only known 6th and 7th century life-size Chinese lacquer buddha sculptures will be exhibited together in Secrets of the Lacquer Buddha at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at 1050 Independence Ave. SW. Free.
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