Soso Capaldi is a Philadelphia-based artist whose work often pairs bright, whimsical aesthetics with the more serious subject of vulnerability. For their exhibition at Philadelphia International Airport, Capaldi creates a vivid, immersive environment filled with imaginative creatures to explore ideas surrounding safety, queerness, and mental health. This process of world-building is not presented as a means of escape, but rather an invitation for communion with the viewer. They explore personal histories as a means of healing and transformation to create a soft space for hard conversations. 

Capaldi states, “I explore an energy of bliss that happens in childhood that you can never get back. It’s not just that my work points…in the direction of childhood. I speak gently of reparenting myself and trying to find out how to know myself. I’m doing this with the help of therapy, boundaries, and exploring the creatures in my work. The creatures are accidental teachers who dispense wisdom while I am building them and when I least expect it. When I didn’t have a safe place to live I started to think about where the creatures in my work live; sometimes they double as my very ventricles in my body, but most of the time they are their own beings I’m lucky enough to ferry to our world, build homes for, and provide safety for.”

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