One of the National Museum of Women in the Arts first major exhibitions since reopening last fall combines two concepts: The museum’s Women to Watch series, typically presented every three years with a focus on emerging women and nonbinary artists, and the idea of New Worlds—a way of questioning how current times have influenced modern artists. In totality, New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024 will be NMWA’s largest installment of the series, featuring 28 artists from across the globe examining the world we inhabit in light of the “global pandemic, advocacy for social reform, and political division.” Sculptor Irina Kirchuk, from Buenos Aires, plays with form, figure, and brilliant colors in her work, which Sculpture Magazine describes as “referenc[ing] architecture, industrial design, the domestic, and the weight of cultural tradition.” Texas-based Arely Morales uses large-scale portraiture to examine the Latine immigrant experience in the U.S. and also show the community’s “strength, elevate and dignify their presence,” she says in her bio. Her portraits, even captured on social media’s miniscule scale, are gripping. Other touchstones of the work featured in New Worlds include artists grappling with climate change, disrupting gender norms, and violence against trans bodies. New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024 opens on April 14 and runs through Aug. 11 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. nmwa.org. $13–$16. —Sarah Marloff
New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024, April 14 through Aug. 11
