We are excited to begin the year with the 2026 Jacob Lawrence Legacy Residency. This year’s resident, indira allegra, has arrived and is settling into the gallery, which will function as their studio throughout the residency. During this time, indira will work in the gallery with two student studio assistants, conduct visit sites across Seattle, connect with partnering academic departments, and engage UW resources to inform their research and artistic practice.
The residency culminates in the exhibition indira allegra: The Book of Zero, on view from February 4 through April 4, 2026. Please join us for the opening celebration on February 4 from 5–7pm, as well as a series of community-centered opportunities to engage with Indira’s practice before and after the exhibition opens.
About the Exhibition
Death is a fundamental first step toward rebirth—but this transition can feel daunting without a compassionate guide. In The Book of Zero, our 2026 Jacob Lawrence Legacy Resident indira allegra presents a multimedia, meditative experience shaped by their research into doula work, death care, and the cyclical nature of bodies and environments.
Water, weaving, and projected imagery animate the earth and its afflictions, creating choreographed spaces for reflection and transformation. The systems that have long shaped and harmed our communities — white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, and bigotry—are understood here as structures in their final death throes, requiring care, intention, and collective effort to fully dissolve. Drawing on the narrative rhythms and poetic repetition of sacred texts, The Book of Zero moves through the difficulty of endings with compassion, opening space for renewal.
Rebirth unfolds on both collective and individual levels. As visitors move through the exhibition, they are invited to ask: What do I need to release in order to move forward? The Book of Zero encourages openness to the transformations necessary to usher in an era of healing.
Opportunities to Engage
- January 22, 2:30pm: Community Office Hours (Informal Q&A and tea with indira)
- February 4, 5–7pm: Opening Celebration
- February 6, 3:00pm: Community Sit (A guided meditation hosted by indira)
- February 17, 5:30–7:30pm: Liberation Book Club x Jacob Lawrence Legacy Residency
- February 27: Stay tuned for details about an interdisciplinary convening bringing together doulas and scientists to consider the themes of The Book of Zero.
About the Resident
indira allegra (they/them) is a conceptual artist and founder of Cazimi Studio. allegra's work has been featured in The Art Newspaper, Artnet, Art Journal, BOMB Magazine, SF Chronicle, e-flux, All Arts, Topical Cream and ARTFORUM and presented in exhibitions and performances at the Museum of Arts and Design (New York, NY), Blaffer Art Museum (Houston, TX), KADIST (San Francisco, CA), Center for Craft (Asheville, NC), Museum of the African Diaspora (San Francisco, CA), and SFMOMA (San Francisco, CA) among others. allegra is the author of Tension Studies (2024) and Dispersal of a Feeling: Bloodnotes on Choreography and Illness (2024) and Blackout (2017, Sming Sming Books). Their writing has been featured in Theater, TEXTILE: Cloth and Culture, American Craft Magazine, Panorama Journal, Leonardo and Material Intelligence among others. allegra has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Burke Prize, Creative Capital, United States Artists Fellowship, Gerbode Choreographer Award, Art Matters Fellowship, Pew Center for Arts & Heritage Creative Project Grant and CripTech Metaverse Fellowship.
Learn more at indiraallegra.com.
About the Residency
The 2026 Jacob Lawrence Legacy Residency is supported in part by the Names Family Foundation, University of Washington Black Opportunity Fund, Donald E. Petersen Endowment for Excellence, Charles Delahunt, Carole Fuller, Floyd and Delores Jones Endowed Fund for the Arts, Kreielsheimer Arts Endowment, and Tricia Tiano and Kent Mettler.
Learn more about the residency here.