08/17/2026
Conversation with Elizabeth Casqueiro and Reem Bassous
Saturday, August 22, 1 pm
Our featured solo artist, Elizabeth Casquiero (Elizabeth Casqueiro), will be joined by Reem Bassous (Reem Bassous), Director of the Washington Studio School (Washington Studio School), to discuss her exhibition Counterspace, inspired by DC landmarks and how they evoke power, identity, justice, connection, and knowledge.
Admission is free (a $10 donation is suggested). This program is organized in conjunction with Casqueiro’s exhibition “Counterspace.”
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Elizabeth Casqueiro (Elizabeth Casqueiro)
Counterspace
August 8, 2026 – August 30, 2026
Counterspace brings together two interconnected bodies of work that examine the space between public narrative and private experience.
At the center of the exhibition are six double-sided banners inspired by Washington, DC landmarks associated with power, justice, faith, identity, mobility, and knowledge. One side reflects the collective ideals embedded within these institutions; the reverse reimagines them through a personal lens, revealing emotional and psychological responses that may affirm, complicate, or challenge their public significance. Together, the banners suggest that shared symbols rarely produce shared meanings.
Complementing the banners are paintings from the Architectures of Passage series, inspired by bridges, railway hubs, and other spaces of transit. These environments – designed for circulation rather than dwelling — become metaphors for contemporary life marked by mobility, uncertainty, displacement, and transformation.
Through painting, collage, textiles, and stitching, Counterspace explores how individuals navigate the physical and symbolic structures that shape collective experience, while remaining connected to one another.
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Hillyer is funded in part by DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, the Galena Yorktown Foundation, the Mars Foundation, and the Jon and Mary Shirley Foundation.
