A winter weather advisory is in effect from Tuesday afternoon through early Wednesday morning. Check venue websites or socials for the latest updates and travel with caution.

---

Jump to: Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Multi-Day

---

TUESDAY

FILM

Fallen Leaves Past Event Like List
Set in Helsinki, Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki's Golden Globe-nommed film Fallen Leaves "opens in a fluorescent hell-on-earth and ends with a vision of something like paradise," according to the New York Times. I'm listening!! The deadpan tragicomic flick with "springtime in its heart" (The Guardian) follows a grocery store shelf stocker and an alcoholic who form an odd-couple bond; look out for the incisive political commentary, too. LC
(Grand Illusion, University District)

WEDNESDAY

FILM

Global Neo-Noir Past Event Like List
Low-lit nightclubs and smoke-filled back alleys go global in this film talk with John Trafton, which traces a neo-noir journey across the world with a discussion of Asian noir flicks like Fallen Angels and Burning, frosty Scandinavian films like Insomnia, and entries from Latin America, Taiwan, New Zealand, and maaaybe even North Dakota. The talk is associated with a showing of Iñárritu's crime thriller Amores Perros, which will screen at SIFF Cinema Uptown on January 15. LC
(SIFF Film Center, Uptown)

LIVE MUSIC

Amber Liu Past Event Like List
When most of us hear the term "K-pop," we think of buoyant earworms like BTS's "Dynamite" or BLACKPINK's "How You Like That"—but did you know that the genre has also produced some of the saddest songs in existence? Exhibit A: California-born singer/rapper Amber Liu, who began her career in the K-pop girl group f(x), and branched off in 2015 to go solo. Liu’s sound is still danceable, catchy, and polished, but leans into softer R&B vocals and slick electronic production. Plus, her tear-jerking diaristic songs like "No More Sad Songs" and "hatemyself" add fresh rawness to the genre. Don't miss an opening set from indie pop singer-songwriter Marielle Kraft. AV
(The Crocodile, Belltown)

The Music of Twin Peaks and Angelo Badalamenti Past Event Like List
The Seattle Symphony will transport you to the black lodge with their faithful renditions of Angelo Badalamenti’s iconic Twin Peaks soundtrack. Making things even more damn good, Kyle MacLachlan (aka Special Agent Dale Cooper) will host! Tickets are a little pricey, but I'll be making it work because as Cooper says, “What I want and what I need are two different things, Audrey.” AV
(Benaroya Hall, Downtown)

READINGS & TALKS

Author Talk: Endangered Eating by Sarah Lohman Past Event Like List
What happens when a food is at risk of vanishing forever? Inspired by Slow Food International's Ark of Taste, a list of foods facing possible extinction, culinary historian Sarah Lohman set out to learn about these endangered ingredients, from heirloom sugarcane to wild rice to America's oldest peanut variety. Her findings are compiled in her latest book, Endangered Foods, along with recipes, so you can follow along and try these rare and at-risk delicacies for yourself. At this author talk at Book Larder, she'll discuss the new book and field burning questions from guests. JB
(Book Larder, Fremont)

J. Kenji López-Alt Discusses “The Wok: Recipes and Techniques” Past Event Like List
Famed food writer, Seattle transplant, and noted bagel enthusiast J. Kenji López-Alt will discuss his best-selling cookbook The Wok: Recipes and Techniques, which won the 2023 Washington State Book Award in General Nonfiction, and the fundamentals of wok cooking. You'll get to know why he considers the wok "the most versatile pan in the kitchen," suitable for stir-frying, deep frying, steaming, simmering, or braising.
(Central Library, Downtown)

UW Public Lectures: Disability Justice: Centering Intersectionality and Liberation Past Event Like List
The University of Washington's 2023-24 season of public lectures hosts speakers exploring "race and social justice, artificial intelligence, the state of American democracy, disability activism, and more." The series continues this week: On January 17, Patty Berne, co-founder and executive artistic director of the disability justice-based performance project Sins Invalid, will tune in remotely for a moderated conversation on intersectionality within disability justice and how "diverse systems of oppression reinforce each other." LC
(Town Hall Seattle, First Hill)

THURSDAY

FILM

Thou Art Dust and Food for Worms: Dark Ages Past Event Like List
It's January, which means the dreariest days of the year are upon us. I recommend leaning into it with the Beacon's latest film series, which showcases the best cinematic depictions of the Dark Ages—it should feel appropriately bleak and self-sacrificing, with a side of poetry, torchlit dread, and some comedy, too. The series will continue this week with 14th-century Crusade frenzy The Seventh Seal, Ingmar Bergman's most lauded film. LC
(The Beacon, Columbia City)

LIVE MUSIC

Nap Concert: Candice Rose, Shelby Natasha, and Daniel Nelson Past Event Like List
Okay—this is my kind of concert. Patrons are encouraged to kick off their shoes and collapse onto blankets, pillows, and yoga mats (BYO) to get extra cozy while the music washes away the week's stress. Drift away into a sweet slumber while local singer-songwriters Candice Rose, Shelby Natasha, and Daniel Nelson provide a blend of soft electronic and acoustic music. AV
(Fremont Abbey Arts Center, Fremont)

Y La Bamba Past Event Like List
Led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Luz Elena Mendoza, Y La Bamba's singular fusion of Mexican folk music and dreamy indie-pop has made them a PNW treasure for over a decade. They will play tracks from their new album, Lucha, with support from the local surf-tinged soul band Nada Rosa. AV
(Neumos, Capitol Hill)

FRIDAY

FILM

Magnetic Madness: The Citizen Kanes of S.O.V. Past Event Like List
S.O.V., short for "shot on video," is also perhaps the most honest movie-making medium. The Beacon deems these works "trashterpieces," which feels accurate in the best way, and the theater's new series Magnetic Madness: The Citizen Kanes of S.O.V. will screen four of 'em. Among the trashterpieces is gross-out flick Hallucinations, which features a "giant penis monster," and '89 hoser horror Things. LC
(The Beacon, Columbia City)

PERFORMANCE

Scribble After Dark Past Event Like List
The pens will be flying at this improvisational animation show, which sees five of YouTube’s biggest animators get illustrative in a series of competitive drawing challenges. (I dare them to draw this.) Egoraptor, Odds1Out, JaidenAnimations, RubberRoss, and Domics will battle it out, and they're promising risqué games that "can't be in an all-ages show," so...prepare for something more salacious than what they're posting on Instagram. LC
(Moore Theatre, Belltown)

Welcome to Night Vale Past Event Like List
From the minds of Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, Welcome to Night Vale blends the bizarre and macabre with Lynchian imagination; the eerie, innovative podcast has found cult status in its narrative depictions of the tiny, isolated (fictional) town of Night Vale. Episodes take the form of community updates, complete with local weather, Sheriff’s Secret Police announcements, and news reports of supernatural, unexplained occurrences. If you're into Twin Peaks and/or TheX-Files, you'll likely dig this, too. LC
(Neptune Theatre, University District)

SATURDAY

COMEDY

Gary Janetti Past Event Like List
The little kid critic and four-time Emmy-nominated writer and producer behind Will & Grace and Vicious will pop over to Seattle for a selection of readings (likely from his New York Times bestsellers Mind If I Cancel and Start Without Me), plus an audience Q&A session and hard-hitting reviews of your blueberry muffins. LC
(Neptune Theatre, University District)

Mike Birbiglia Live Past Event Like List
Stand-up master, actor, and storyteller Mike Birbiglia has more than his fair share of solo shows, books, and feature films to his credit—his "household name" status is years in the making. Fresh off a new Netflix special, The Old Man and The Pool, in which he chats about the perils of heart disease and cardio, Birbiglia will swing by Seattle to seek out our best pizza and pancake places. LC
(Moore Theatre, Belltown)

FOOD & DRINK

A Jewel Runners Supper: Run the Jewels Inspired Tasting from Elysian Brewing and Pop Pop Past Event Like List
The crew who brought you over-the-top interactive pop-up dinners such as "I Think You Should Eat" and "36 Courses: A Wu Tang-Themed Experience" has now set their sights on the legendary hip-hop duo Run the Jewels. Chefs Syd Suntha of Kottu, Tyler Palgi of Lady Jaye, Denali Foglietti of Art of the Table, and Demond Thomas of Dirty Bird Woodfire will prepare a "five-course, mind-bending, taste-bud-thrashing extravaganza that's about to flip the script on what a dinner party can be," complete with a photo booth, trivia, live flash tattoos, a piñata, a limited-time Run the Jewels-themed beer from Elysian, and last but not least, music from actual Run the Jewels tour DJ Trackstar. The event will also double as the debut of Run the Jewels' new signature canned cocktail, RTJ Paloma Remix. JB
(Elysian Fields, SoDo)

PARTIES & NIGHTLIFE

DJ Pauly D Past Event Like List
Yeah, buddy! The spray-tanned, hair-gelled reality star known as DJ Pauly D will leave the shores of Jersey to bring some much-needed MTV spring break vibes to the PNW. While he's an easy person to poke fun at, give this man some credit. Can you name anyone else who simultaneously holds the titles of "[One of the] World's Highest Paid DJs" (Forbes) as well as the "Sexiest Man Alive on Facebook" (People)? AV
(Showbox SoDo, SoDo)

RPDR S16: Hershii Liqcour-Jeté and Kornbread Jeté Past Event Like List
Hope you're hungry! RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 star Hershii LiqCour-Jeté will head to Seattle to keep us all well-fed alongside legendary season 14 contestant Kornbread "the Snack" Jeté, and they'll serve snatched eleganza hot out of the oven, henny. VIP tickets include table service, a meet and greet with the dolls, and an up-close "splash zone" experience.
LC
(Queer Bar, Capitol Hill)

SUNDAY

FILM

Weird and Wonderful: The Satirical Films of Tim Smith Past Event Like List
Off-kilter filmmaker Tim Smith, a Portland legend in his own right, captured a long-gone Rose City through the lens of a 16mm Bolex camera. Smith's sardonic films, which feature a plucky cast of his family and friends (including future Simpsons creator Matt Groening), radiate with his love for cinema. They often act as parodies of '60s- and '70s-era genre flicks—we're especially intrigued by the anti-drug drama Drugs: Killers or Dillers? This selection of his most weird-out movies was digitally captured at 2K with support from the Al Larvick Conservation Fund. LC
(Northwest Film Forum, Capitol Hill)

LIVE MUSIC

Sunny War with Maya Marie Past Event Like List
On her latest album, Anarchist Gospel, folk-punk artist Sunny War tackles her internal battle with self-destruction. “Everybody is a beast just trying their hardest to be good," she writes. "You’re not really good or bad—you’re just trying to stay in the middle of those two things all the time, and you’re probably doing a shitty job of it." Through her songwriting, Sunny embraces the nuances of emotion, identity, personhood, and in particular, genre, finding the spaces between gospel, country blues, folk, rock, and avant-garde. She will support the album alongside local singer-songwriter Maya Marie. AV
(Tractor Tavern, Ballard)

MULTI-DAY

COMEDY

Janeane Garofalo Past Event Like List
As a standup comedian, Garofalo drifts from one thought to another like a cat trying to tell a story while chasing a piece of string, and then suddenly, after an hour or so, you realize she just dumped a bunch of brilliance on you and you never stopped laughing or at least chuckling because everything she said was relatable, true, and, at times, even poignant. Has anyone talked to her about hosting The Daily Show? Someone should talk to her about hosting The Daily Show. STRANGER CULTURE EDITOR MEGAN SELING
(Here-After at the Crocodile, Belltown, Thursday-Sunday)

EXHIBIT

Honored to Tell Past Event Like List
The first cohort to graduate from the Seattle Black Spatial Histories Institute will share their oral history and "Black memory work" in this culminating exhibition, which was inspired by interviews with Black longshore workers, barbers, dancers, educators, and beauticians. I'm stoked to see Ricky Reyes, Eboni Wyatt, and Sierra Parsons's Making.Wavs zine and immersive reading room, Ariel Paine's barbershop installation, and Brenetta Ward's quilted scrolls. LC
(Wa Na Wari, Central District, Tuesday-Saturday; closing)

FILM

All of Us Strangers Past Event Like List
The bisexual lighting is hard at work in All of Us Strangers, a film that stars Andrew Scott (the hot priest on Fleabag) and Paul Mescal in cute sweaters. The film follows two Londoners living in the same near-empty tower block, where they find each other, do ketamine, and vibe before memories of past traumas begin to interrupt their romance. The film is based on the eerie, hypnotic 1987 novel Strangers by Taichi Yamada. LC
(SIFF Cinema Egyptian, Capitol Hill, Tuesday-Sunday)

Delicatessen Past Event Like List
In post-apocalyptic France, a butcher with a troublesome habit of filleting the local handymen is perturbed when his daughter falls for the new shop employee. Also, the new shop employee is a former circus clown. I promise it gets weirder from there, too. This cult classic black comedy, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro (Amélie, The City of Lost Children), will be screened in a fresh 4K restoration; you'll dig it if you're into Luis Buñuel's satirical films.
(Northwest Film Forum, Capitol Hill, Wednesday-Sunday)

Documentaries of Distinction Past Event Like List
Grand Illusion's latest series of documentary screenings centers a high-brow selection of flicks you may have missed, like 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen's Occupied City; director Luke Lorentzen’s A Still Small Voice, which follows a chaplain's year-long hospital residency; and Nicole Newnham's The Disappearance of Shere Hite, which tracks the life of the female orgasm researcher and writer. The series starts this week with Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, which won the Directing Award for World Cinema: Documentary at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. LC
(Grand Illusion, University District, Wednesday/Friday-Sunday)

The Happiness of the Katakuris Past Event Like List
Takashi Miike's musical horror depicts the oddball Katakuri family, whose bed-and-breakfast endeavor is quickly soured by a dead body in the backyard. The disasters continue, the bodies begin to pile up, and the backyard becomes a bit more hectic than the Katakuris bargained for. The Happiness of the Katakuris blends Miike's outlandishly violent style with claymation, karaoke, and crime for a stand-alone experience. LC
(Central Cinema, Central District, Friday-Sunday)

Mean Girls (2024) Past Event Like List
Tina Fey will continue trying to make "fetch" happen in this musical "twist on a modern classic," a phrase that makes me feel irreparably old. Pack it up, fellow millennials—our journey to cultural obsolescence is complete, I guess. ANYWAY! Regina George is wearing black leather, and Jenna Fischer, Busy Philipps, and Jon Hamm have cameos as various adults in Cady Heron's teenage world. Will this newfangled version create the same fanatical chokehold on teen society that the original Mean Girls did? Honestly, I don't think so. But you'll have fun regardless. LC
(SIFF Cinema Downtown, Belltown, Tuesday-Sunday)

Poor Things Past Event Like List
Real Lanthimos heads know that he doesn't direct anything without dystopic, black comedy underpinnings and plotlines that make audiences ponder why they're on the planet at all. He is weird, as directors should be, and you're either in or you're out. This time around, he's adapted a '92 Scottish novel for the screen, painting the picture of a young woman (played by Emma Stone, who is raven-haired and looks charmingly bananas) brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist (played by my famous dad, Willem Dafoe). Best part? Poor Things "saved" my other dad, Mark Ruffalo, from "depressed dad typecasting." Praise be. LC
(SIFF Cinema Uptown, Uptown, Tuesday-Wednesday)

The Zone of Interest Past Event Like List
If you've been keeping up with A24's films by international directors lately, including solid entries like After Yang and Dream Scenario, you're probably already jazzed for The Zone of Interest, which is a co-production between the US, the UK, and Poland. Filmmaker Jonathan Glazer (who directed the Scarlett Johansson-as-an-extraterrestrial flick Under the Skin) tells the story of a Nazi commandant and his family, who attempt to build a happy life near the Auschwitz concentration camp. Call me presumptuous, but uh, I'm not rooting for them. The film has been shortlisted for Best International Feature at this year's Oscars. LC
(SIFF Cinema Uptown, Uptown, Thursday-Sunday)

LIVE MUSIC

An Evening with Chris Botti Past Event Like List
Amid career high points like playing alongside Barbra Streisand, Lady Gaga, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, and Joni Mitchell (just to name a few), Grammy Award winner and pop-jazz showman Chris Botti and his trumpet will head back to Seattle for a five-night residency at Jazz Alley. Botti will be celebrating the release of his first album in over a decade (and debut on prestigious jazz label Blue Note),Vol1, which focuses on acoustic jazz and classic standards. AV
(Jazz Alley, Belltown, Wednesday-Sunday)

Dinosaur Jr.: Celebrating 30 years of “Where You Been” Past Event Like List
If you're one of those Dinosaur Jr. fans who says "I only like their old stuff," perhaps you'll be pleased to see that the alt-rock legends are on tour marking the 30th anniversary of their fifth album Where You Been. The 1993 album marked the band's transition from the avant-noise of Bug to a more refined, '70s rock-inspired sound. With that polish came the most commercial success the band had ever seen, with the album's lead single "Start Choppin" landing on the Billboard charts. The original lineup of J Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph will swing by Seattle for two nights to play the album in its entirety along with a few other classics and covers sprinkled throughout. AV
(Neptune Theatre, University District, Wednesday-Thursday)

Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy Past Event Like List
Grammy Award-winning composer Arnie Roth will lead a full orchestra and chorus (over 100 musicians!) in a performance of Nobuo Uematsu's score of the sci-fi video game series Final Fantasy. Gear up for a multi-sensory experience with special video projections designed by the game's developers. AV
(McCaw Hall, Uptown, Friday-Saturday)

PERFORMANCE

Anida Yoeu Ali: Hybrid Skin, Mythical Presence Remind Like List
Tacoma-based artist Anida Yoeu Ali's solo debut at the Seattle Art Museum blends elements of performance, religious aesthetics, and mythical heroines to disrupt notions of otherness, "transcend the ordinary," and reflect on her upbringing as a Cham-Muslim refugee who migrated from Cambodia. In Hybrid Skin, Mythical Presence, two site-specific performances by Ali—The Buddhist Bug and The Red Chador—are explored through transformative "artifacts," including garments worn by the artist and others during the performances, plus videos, photographs, and installation art. Visitors can return later in spring to see the artifacts come to life: Ali will perform The Buddhist Bug on March 23 and The Red Chador on June 1. LC
(Seattle Asian Art Museum, Capitol Hill, Thursday–Sunday; opening)

Bluey's Big Play Past Event Like List
Rascally heelers Bluey and Bingo have big plans to get lazy Dad off his bean bag chair in this fresh theatrical adaptation of the Emmy-winning series Bluey. The show's creator, Joe Brumm, penned this original tale, which is set to new music by Bluey composer Joff Bush. LC
(Paramount Theatre, Downtown, Saturday-Sunday)

Cirque du Soleil: Corteo Past Event Like List
Cirque du Soleil's Corteo kicks off with a dead clown, but uh...hold on, stay with me. The performance actually functions as a joyous funeral procession celebrating jester Mauro's life with festivities, frolic, and a cavalcade of awe-inspiring tumbles and spins. The performance promises to "plunge the audience into a theatrical world of fun, comedy, and spontaneity situated in a mysterious space between heaven and earth." If a mysterious space between heaven and earth sounds like what you need right now, I suggest you pop an edible and get into it. LC
(Climate Pledge Arena, Uptown, Wednesday-Saturday)

The Comedy of Errors Past Event Like List
Two sets of twins find themselves entangled in an identity crisis in this pun-ridden, slapstick production, based on one of the Bard's earliest farcical plays. When Antipholus and Dromio run into some trouble when their doppelgangers, the truth seems, uh, next to impossible: Their identical twins with identical names were separated from them in a shipwreck decades earlier. Naturally, this realization leads to a domino effect of existential crises, exorcisms, and general pandemonium. It's a comedy, so expect an (eventual) happily-ever-after moment amid the hubbub. LC
(Seattle Center, Uptown, Wednesday–Sunday)

Peggy Piacenza: The Forever Project Past Event Like List
Performance artist Peggy Piacenza will look back at her three-decade career in artistic movement and sex work with The Forever Project, which digs into her darkly humorous, ecofeminist archives to think critically about freedom, ageism, self-growth, and a search for purpose. Piacenza will blend many of her "larger-than-life" characters from previous performances, bringing them together in one bodily "container" that embodies both "the sacred and profane." Dichotomies are central to this new performance work: Piacenza will evoke "memoir and fiction...to coalesce as the blurred lines between the real and artificial." LC
(On the Boards, Uptown, Thursday-Sunday)

Whim W'Him Winter '24 Past Event Like List
Contemporary dance company Whim W’Him will unleash a blend of performances by Los Angeles-based dance artist Bret Easterling, Dresden-based choreographer Joseph Hernandez, and Whim W’Him founder and artistic director Olivier Wevers on the Cornish Playhouse and Vashon Center for the Arts stages. It's a great way to catch up on national and international dance trends—the choreographers have performed everywhere from Monte Carlo to Julliard. LC
(Cornish Playhouse, Uptown, Friday-Saturday)

VISUAL ART

Black & Boujee Past Event Like List
Aiming to redefine stereotypes and notions of luxury in Black culture, the group exhibition Black & Boujee challenges the Eurocentric conception of opulence, centers Afrocentric aesthetics, and will likely expand your perceptions on all things expensive. The show is a great reason to visit Bainbridge Island—it'll showcase works by Black artists and designers working in painting, sculpture, and other mediums to investigate the "complexity of navigating luxury in a society shaped by racial inequalities." LC
(Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Winslow, Tuesday-Sunday)

Eirik Johnson: The Light That Gets Lost Past Event Like List
Seattle-based artist Eirik Johnson's The Light That Gets Lost pairs tranquil, hushed diptychs with a sound installation, inviting the viewer to respond to the subtle differences in imagery within a larger thematic framework of natural transformation and climate change. The images depict hunting cabins "built by the Iñupiat inhabitants of Utqiaġvik (formerly known as Barrow), Alaska as seen through the extremes of the Arctic summer and winter." There's something deeply satisfying about observing the shifting appearance of the cabins as the seasons change—in summer, they have a bare, weathered, and makeshift appearance, but blanketed in snow, they become pristine, almost magical. LC
(Koplin Del Rio Gallery, Georgetown, Wednesday–Saturday; closing)

Hanako O’Leary: Izanami Past Event Like List
Weaving together Shinto mythology and contemporary feminist ideologies, local artist Hanako O’Leary’s ceramic objects create a unique visual vocabulary embedded with stories from her childhood travels to Japan’s Setonaikai Islands. O'Leary also draws from folkloric Japanese imagery, fertility icons, Noh theater traditions, and her personal matriarchal lineage to "narrate her own American story" in her first solo museum presentation. Izanami is named after the Shinto goddess of creation and death; in the Shinto pantheon, she dies during childbirth, but O'Leary lends her story a contemporary reframing by “embracing the mystical feminine realm in its entirety and celebrating the right to create or destroy what lies within our own underworld.” LC
(Frye Art Museum, First Hill, Wednesday–Sunday)

Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence, from the collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Past Event Like List
Images of Katsushika Hokusai's Great Wave have been blasted onto high school projector screens since time immemorial, but Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence takes the viewer deeper with more than 100 of the master's woodblock prints, paintings, and illustrated books. (Yes, Great Wave—or Under the Wave off Kanagawa, by its full name—will be on display, along with a LEGO interpretation of it.) You don't have to cross an ocean to see the legendary Edo-period Japanese ukiyo-e artist's scope of influence, either. Over 200 works by his teachers, students, rivals, and admirers will be showcased alongside his own pieces right here in Seattle, courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. LC
(Seattle Art Museum, Downtown, Wednesday–Sunday; closing)

La Vaughn Belle: A History of Unruly Returns Past Event Like List
Based in Saint Croix, multimedia artist La Vaughn Belle investigates the legacy of Denmark and US colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade embedded in the Caribbean island's history through paintings, ceramics, and collages. In La Vaughn Belle: A History of Unruly Returns, the first solo exhibition of Belle’s work in the Pacific Northwest, the artist shares large-scale paintings from her ongoing series “Chaney (We Live in the Fragments)," which refers to the ceramic shards buried in Saint Croix's soils. ("Coming first as plates, tea pots and cups from Holland, England, Denmark, and North America as part of the vast transatlantic trade of the last centuries of the second millennia, they became its detritus, broken down into the soil, just like the traded bodies," says the museum.) LC
(National Nordic Museum, Ballard, Tuesday-Sunday)

Steinunn Þórarinsdóttir: Wayfinders Past Event Like List
Icelandic sculptor Steinunn Þórarinsdóttir's pensive, androgynous sculptures reflect on the universality of the human experience—gaze into their blank eyes and you might catch a glimpse of yourself. In Wayfinders, Þórarinsdóttir has designed a site-specific installation that greets museum visitors and "guides their path" through the space with 13 life-sized works and a selection of watercolors. The figures represent life stages and periods of transience and resettlement, reflecting on the Nordic American experience but also embodying a sense of ambiguity. LC
(National Nordic Museum, Ballard, Tuesday–Sunday)

Stranger Fruit: Work by Jon Henry Past Event Like List
For his series Stranger Fruits, New York-based photographer Jon Henry composed powerful portraits of Black mothers holding their sons. The mothers and children range in age, and the settings are both indistinguishable and recognizable—among them public parks, backyards, a Target parking lot, and Montgomery Alabama’s capitol building where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “How Long, Not Long” speech in March 1965. In his statement about the series, Henry writes, “The mothers in the photographs have not lost their sons, but understand the reality that this could happen to their family.” It could happen any minute, anywhere. According to gun violence nonprofit Everytown, “Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people experience higher rates of gun homicides overall and fatal shootings by police than white peers” and Black people are 12 times more likely to die by gun homicide than white people. Stranger Fruits will make you feel those statistics in your bones. Henry will host an artist talk and reception at the gallery on Thursday, January 18, from 6-9 pm, where limited copies of his Stranger Fruit book will be available. STRANGER CULTURE EDITOR MEGAN SELING
(Photographic Center Northwest, Capitol Hill, Tuesday–Sunday)

Хліб-сіль: Of Bread and Salt Past Event Like List
In Хліб-сіль: Of Bread and Salt, the Ukrainian American visual artist Sofya Belinskaya aims to capture the experiences of local families uprooted due to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine through a blend of oral history audio excerpts and airy large-format watercolor portraits. Conversations with families informed each of Belinskaya's multimedia displacement narratives in an attempt to "weave together fragments of home," and the show's title, Хліб-сіль, references the Ukrainian custom of offering bread and salt to guests, an act that represents "respect, hospitality, and goodwill." LC
(Gallery 4Culture, Pioneer Square, Tuesday-Friday)