Krista Svalbonas, Silent Witness

Exhibition dates: February 4-March 6, 2026
Artist’s Talk: Wed., February 4 from 5:00-6:00pm
Opening Reception: Wed., February 4 from 6:00-8:00 pm [Mueller Gallery, Student Center and Visceglia Hall]

The Mueller Gallery at Caldwell University is excited to present Silent Witness, an exhibition featuring the work of artist Krista Svalbonas. The exhibition will be held from Wednesday, February 4th, to Friday, March 6, 2026. An artist’s talk will take place at the Mueller Gallery on Wednesday, Feb. 4th from 5-6pm followed by a reception from 6:00-8:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public.

Krista Svalbonas is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores ideas of home, dislocation, and the profound impact of architecture and landscape on cultural
identity and human psychology. As the child of Latvian and Lithuanian parents who arrived in the United States as refugees after World War II, Svalbonas has long been compelled by the tension between belonging and exile. Across her practice, her work is informed by personal and collective histories of displacement, shaped by her parents’ experiences in displaced-person camps in Germany and by broader narratives of occupation, resistance, and survival embedded in built and natural environments.

In this exhibition, Silent Witness, Svalbonas will be presenting three interwoven series that explore Baltic resistance, displacement, and cultural survival. Rooted in personal history and ancestral memory, this work reflects on the impact of Soviet occupation across generations, landscapes, and architectures. Togethe,r these series ask how landscapes, buildings and material traditions carry memory, identity, and resistance. They honor those who fought, fled, and endured. Collectively, these works invite viewers to consider what survives in the aftermath of struggle.

Krista Svalbonas holds a BFA in Photography and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies. Her work has been exhibited at prestigious venues, including Paris Photo, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Spartanburg Art Museum in South Carolina, Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston, Klompching Gallery, and ISE Cultural Foundation in New York. Her pieces are included in private collections and public institutions such as LACMA in Los Angeles, the Cesis Art Museum in Latvia, the Gregg Museum of Art and Design in North Carolina, and the Woodmere Art Museum and Temple University in Philadelphia. Svalbonas has received numerous awards, including the Center for Photographic Art Artist Grant (2022), the Baumanis Creative Projects Grant (2020), the Rhonda Wilson Award (2017), the Puffin Foundation Grant (2016), and a Bemis Fellowship (2015). Recently, she held solo exhibitions of her series “Displacement” at the Copenhagen Photography Festival in Denmark, the Tallinn City Museum in Estonia, the Museum of Textile and Industry in Augsburg, Germany, the Kazys Varnelis Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania, and the Janina Monkute Marks Museum in Kedainiai, Lithuania. She is an associate professor of photography at St. Joseph’s University and resides in Philadelphia, where she continues her work.

The Mueller Gallery is open Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit here for directions.