Welcome to the People’s House—where past, present, and future meet through exhibitions that reflect our city’s diversity and spirit.
Gracie Mansion Convervancy Presents:
Cathartic Connection
Marisa Mu & Charlie Serotoff
June 6 - August 8, 2025
Gracie Mansion Conservancy Curatorial Statement
In celebration of Pride Month, the Gracie Mansion Conservancy proudly presents
Cathartic Connection, a new installation by LGBTQ+ artists Marisa Mu and Charlie
Serotoff. Set within the historic walls of Gracie Mansion, this exhibition invites reflection
on the emotional landscapes that shape our identities, relationships, and communities.
Cathartic Connection brings together two artists whose practices are rooted in the
act of making the unseen felt and the unspoken known. Through vivid abstraction and
deeply tactile form, Mu and Serotoff create space for emotions that elude language—
grief, longing, vulnerability, and hope—and honor their psychological journeys in
pursuit of understanding, belonging, and healing.
Mu’s vibrant abstract paintings explore identity, ancestry, and belonging through her
queer, diasporic lens, offering emotionally charged reflections on self and culture. In
contrast, Serotoff’s hand-tufted textiles turn complex mental health experiences into
tactile, approachable works, using texture and contrast to express psychological states
and foster empathy around emotional well-being.
Together, Mu and Serotoff reveal the profound potential of catharsis—the release that
comes through expression—not just as a private act, but as a collective offering. Their
work affirms that when we externalize what is difficult to name, we open the door to
shared recognition, connection, and healing.
Cathartic Connection speaks to both artists’ processes: the personal clarity found
through creating work that gives form to inner chaos, and the connection sparked
when others see their own truths reflected in that work. This is art in its most essential
civic role—fostering empathy, inclusion, and dialogue across difference. In a setting as
symbolically significant as Gracie Mansion, a space long associated with institutional
authority, the presence of these deeply emotional, openly queer, and unapologetically
personal works is both a celebration and a reclamation.
This exhibition shines awareness on the necessity of emotional honesty and diverse
narratives in our public discourse. As we mark Pride Month, Cathartic Connection
stands as a powerful reminder that healing is not only possible, but communal—and
that art, when grounded in truth and shared experience, can serve as both mirror
and bridge.
With Pride, Empathy and Connection,
Andrea Shapiro Davis, Executive Director
&
Chioma Ohakam, Director of Public Engagement
Gracie Mansion Conservancy
Joint Artist Statement
Cathartic Connection brings together two artists exploring the transformative power
of making the invisible, visible. Through bold textile work and vibrant painting, Marisa
and Charlie create space for the emotional experiences that resist easy language;
the psychological landscapes we navigate in search of healing, understanding, and
belonging.
Marisa’s intuitive paintings channel vibrant color and energy to explore identity,
lineage, and finding one’s place within community, weaving personal and cultural
narratives through her diasporic and queer experience.
Charlie’s hand-tufted textile art translates complex mental health concepts into
tactile form, rendering experiences like hypervigilance and sonder approachable
through soft textures and high-contrast colors.
Together, their work demonstrates that catharsis: the release and relief found through
emotional expression becomes most powerful when shared. This exhibition offers
a space where difficult emotions and complex identities are not just acknowledged
but embraced as pathways to connection and understanding.
The title reflects both artists’ processes: the personal catharsis found in creating work
that makes sense of chaos, and the connection that emerges when others recognize
their own experiences reflected back. This is art as bridge-building; creating small
moments of recognition where viewers feel seen, understood, and a little less alone.
At Gracie Mansion, a space steeped in institutional history, Cathartic Connection
celebrates the importance of emotional honesty and diverse voices in our civic
conversations, honoring both the individual journey toward healing and the collective
power of shared human experience.
​Marisa Mu is an interdisciplinary artist currently based between Melbourne and
New York. Her work explores themes of Queer Expression, Intersectional Feminism, The Asian Diaspora and Body Liberation. In 2019, she was awarded the Emerging Artist of The Year Award and was featured on the cover of Broadsheet Magazine for her latest culturally significant body of work ‘With Pleasure’. She has completed her studies at National Art School and the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales.
Her livelihood as an artist explores the multiplicity of her identity, allowing intuition
and curiosity about being a third culture kid navigating their queerness and sense
of place come to the forefront. She is Australian born with East Timorese and Hakka Chinese lineage with her arts practice negotiating complex narratives, weaving the personal and political through painting, sculpture, installation, poetry and performance.
With her focus on the amalgamation of her personal narratives and cultural histories, her visual story-telling and literary works are about overcoming loss, instilling hope, remembering the past and understanding universal love languages ascend generations. Her works share a unique perspective on diasporic experiences, cultural preservation, and the intersectionality of queer identities.
Through harnessing her Hakka and East Timorese heritage, language and QBIPOC storytelling, she advocates and brings these largely under-represented narratives vividly to the surface. The rigorous research and experimentation within her practice enables her to generate thought-provoking and socio-politically engaging activations, creating culturally relevant resources for our collective future.
Charlie Serotoff is a textile artist based in Hell’s Kitchen. Beginning his journey
into textile art in late 2023, he has developed a practice that transforms personal
emotional experiences into tactile, visual narratives through hand-tufted rugs.
His artwork explores psychological experiences discovered through his mental
health journey—from the surreal awareness of everyone’s hidden complexity to
the relentless scanning for danger that trauma creates, to finding cosmic meaning
in random moments.
He’s entirely self-taught as an artist, and his partial color blindness influences his
bold color palette, as he selects yarns based on contrast and visual impact rather
than specific hues, creating dynamic relationships between colors that enhance
the emotional resonance of each piece.
His work has been featured in solo exhibitions including “Hangin’ by a Thread” at
Helm Contemporary (March 2025) and “Rugs of Reflection” at Columbus Circle
(May 2025).
Charlie has always been very left brain/right brain, needing both analytical and
creative outlets. Working in digital product management satisfies his analytical
side, while textile art has finally given him a creative outlet that feels meaningful.
