Karon Davis: Not My Circus Opening Celebration

Karon Davis has a new exhibition, Not My Circus, opening at the Seattle Art Museum on November 5, 2026, and it runs through July 4, 2027. The show takes over the Gwendolyn Knight and Jacob Lawrence Gallery, bringing together new sculptures and paintings from Davis.

The circus is the central metaphor here, and Davis uses it to look at performance, power, and how society works. It's not just a random choice, either—she draws on her own family's background in entertainment, and she's interested in the duality of pleasure and pain that plays out in public spectacles. The figures in the work tend to feel familiar and theatrical at first, and that's what draws you in. Once you're close, though, something more complicated starts to reveal itself beneath the surface.

Carrie Dedon, SAM's Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, described that as Davis's particular strength: the way she pulls you in with something that feels recognizable before showing you the more complex stuff underneath. If you've seen her work before, this is a good chance to see where she's taking it now, and if you haven't, it's a solid place to start. The exhibition opens November 5 and stays up through July 4, 2027, at the Seattle Art Museum.