What makes someone leave family, friends, and a familiar way of life behind? What would it take for you to say goodbye to the people you love and embark on a journey to a place you have never seen, many miles from your home? The decision to leave can be both the most frightening and the bravest step of a lifetime. Often such moves are seen as taking steps to improve one’s circumstances. Yet, for many people, the decision to relocate is often made because one’s survival depends on it. In those instances, our bodies carry us forward—our small steps, the breath rising and falling in our chests, build into a journey of significance. These physical movements can ultimately reverberate over generations, altering the fabric of societies, creating new communities, and melding cultures.  

Guest-curated by the artist ransome, the 2025 iteration of the Dorsky Museum’s annual Hudson Valley Artists exhibition explores the theme of “Movement” from multiple perspectives. Interested artists are invited to submit artwork in which they interpret movement through the lens of migration, immigration, place, political displacement, social change, isolation, or physical motion itself.