Tomorrow the Sun Will Rise
Juried show of area artists at the Phillips Collection.
In keeping with its long-standing commitment to championing the work of living artists in the Washington, DC, area, The Phillips Collection is proud to present a major exhibition showcasing 48 artists based in the greater DC region. This special exhibition will be on display from August 1 through September 20, 2026.
The result of an open call that drew 1,500 applications, the exhibition brings together an intergenerational group of artists who are grappling with the complexities of the contemporary world, while celebrating the beauty, resilience, and determination that inspires their ongoing creative practice.
“Tomorrow the Sun Will Rise reminds us that artists are among our most essential witnesses, and this exhibition is a testament to their courage and conviction,” says Jonathan P. Binstock, Vradenburg Director & CEO of The Phillips Collection. “At the Phillips, championing the artists of our community—in all their diversity of background, experience, and vision—is one of our most cherished responsibilities.”
Organized into five themes—Gazing, Archiving, Challenging, Processing, and Experimenting—these groupings foreground art as an active practice rooted in observation, reflection, and exploration. Across a variety of media, the artists investigate a wide array of topics in their work, from personal trauma to political issues, from materiality to memory, from ecology to language, among others.
The exhibition engages deeply with ideas of diaspora, exploring how artists negotiate relationships to homeland, adopted country, and the spaces in between. Throughout the show, artists emerge as both witnesses and historians, creating works that emphasize the urgency of recording, interpreting, and preserving individual and collective histories. A number of works grapple with deeply personal experiences of grief, illness, and loss, while others address broader contemporary realities such as labor exploitation and ecological crisis.
The Phillips Collection is located at 1600 21st Street NW.