Reception for solo exhibition set for Sunday

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, July 8, 2026

PORT HADLOCK — A reception will be conducted for the opening of “Roots. Chosen.” from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday in the Bayside Art Gallery, 310 Hadlock Bay Road, Port Hadlock.

“Roots. Chosen.” is a solo exhibition of oil and acrylic paintings by Bilonda Mireille Rommel, a Seattle-based, Congolese-born and self-taught abstract artist. Her art draws on the ceremonial motifs, sacred geometries and living symbols of Luba, Bantu and Kongo traditions.

The exhibit, Rommel’s first solo exhibition, will explore the intersections of heritage, identity and deliberate belonging through the the duality between the biological, historical foundations we inherit and the communities, paths and identities we claim for ourselves.

“There is a language that makes me cry before I can explain why,” Rommel said. “When I hear Tshiluba, the language of my Luba ancestors, something in me answers before my mind can catch up. Joy and grief arrive together, inseparable. I did not choose this. It chose me. Long before I was born, these roots were already reaching.”

“Roots. Chosen.” will be on display from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily through Aug. 31.

For more information, visit www.baysideart gallery.com.