What We Carry brings together the work of husband and wife, Michael and Charith Denson, for their first shared exhibition at The Monastery AZ, the creative space they founded together in downtown Peoria.

Working across mixed media, painting, figurative work, and installation, both artists create pieces that are meant to be encountered as much as viewed. The work invites conversation, asks questions, and leaves room for the viewer to bring their own experiences into the exchange.

At the center of the exhibition is the idea that identity is never formed in isolation. We come to understand ourselves through relationship with people, place, faith, culture, family, memory, and experience. We carry pieces of where we have been, what we believe, who has shaped us, what we have lost, and what we continue to become.

Across two distinct bodies of work, Michael and Charith explore these layers from different perspectives while continually returning to questions of connection, belonging, spirituality, and the ways our individual stories intersect with the stories of others.

What We Carry is an invitation to look closely, stay curious, talk about what you see, and consider what you carry with you.

This exhibit is sponsored in part by: The Create Commission