In this year like no other year, it’s often been hard to look on the bright side. But as 2020 winds to a close, many of us are feeling hopeful about the year ahead—with a vaccine and a new president on the horizon, and perhaps the chance to see art regularly in person again.

While there is much to mourn, there is also much to be grateful for in the year that’s almost past. So we asked 23 artists, curators, dealers, and other leading figures in the art world to reflect on what they’re feeling grateful for this Thanksgiving.

I feel thankful to the African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans in the United States that secured a victory for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the presidential election. I am particularly grateful for the efforts of activists such as Stacey Abrams in Georgia and organizations such as Voto Latino and Mi Familia Vota in the southwest. Without them, Trump would not have been beaten. 

—Coco Fusco, artist and writer

However perturbing and discomfiting the means to arriving at this assertion are and were, I think I’m most grateful for the fallibility of human knowledge, and sympathy as a necessary corollary. What a perplexing species we are—what pathetic limits to understanding there are. So perhaps I’m most thankful for the partial primacy of paradox. We suffer at its hands, and yet it generates things like laughter and art.

—Darren Bader, artist

I am thankful that our parks and streets are filled with public art that is accessible to everyone, free of charge, and safely installed outdoors. I am grateful to the many cultural institutions out there that are working hard to bring exciting art to our city!

—Cecilia Alemani, chief curator of New York’s High Line Art and artistic director of the Venice Biennale 2021

Sue Coe. Courtesy of Galerie St. Etienne

I am thankful for all those who stood in line to vote for the non-fascist—for hours and hours. I’m thankful for my dear friends who fight to save animal and human lives, and the friends who despair, but carry on anyway (actually, that’s all my friends). I’m thankful for Soutine and Goya and Käthe Kollwitz. I’m thankful there is still journalism. I’m thankful for all the vegans who refuse to eat murdered birds on Thanksgiving.

—Sue Coe, artist and activist

I am thankful for New York, the city that I chose from the map of the US thirtysomething years ago. The city that I will always love and never leave. Through thick and thin, we survive each other and, believe me, we had it thin… At this very moment, I am thankful that in New York I can work IRL as the galleries are open and kicking. 

Wear a freaking mask!

—Magda Sawon, founder, Postmasters Gallery

Jane Kallir, director of Galerie St. Etienne. Photo courtesy of Galerie St. Etienne.

I am personally very thankful that everyone I love made it safely through this difficult year. But I grieve the many who did not. In recent months, we have come closer to totalitarianism than I ever thought possible in the country that saved my family from the Holocaust. I am grateful for the US Constitution, for the rule of law, and for the millions of Americans who gave Joe Biden a majority of both the electoral and the popular vote. Those Americans give us hope that democracy will prevail

—Jane Kallir, director, Galerie St. Etienne

US-based artist Nicholas Galanin in Sydney, Australia. Photo by Don Arnold/WireImage.

Mary Sabbatino © Grace Roselli.

We are all grateful for the health we have and those of our families and close friends and mindful that this good fortune is not universally shared; so I’m grateful to all of those who work in the healthcare, science, and the helping professions for getting us all through this pandemic. Politically, I’m grateful for a new beginning and seeing a woman of color in the second most powerful position in government and, at a more grassroots level, for the continued energy and focus that youth have put into maintaining the pressure to see and act for justice and equality. Art continues to give gifts; I’m grateful for the loyalty and support of the artists in the gallery and the gift our audience and patrons gave us back, of acceptance, respect, and excitement encountering the work of Ficre Ghebreyesus.

—Mary Sabbatino, vice president, Galerie Lelong

This season I’m so very thankful for our democracy. And shoutout to all of the people who are diligently wearing masks to keep us safe and stop the spread. Thank you!

—Casey Fremont, executive director, Art Production Fund

I am going to quote Lord Tennyson:

“Though much is taken, much abides; and though

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” 

—Stefan Simchowitz, art collector

I’m thankful that I can walk, that I can use my hands, and that I can speak. I don’t take these things for granted. I’m thankful to be able to see, hear, and feel so many things deeply, even when it’s not easy.

—Samara Golden, artist

No one needs a reminder of this year’s turbulence, its unthinkable challenges, or the unimaginable fear, sadness, and loss we’ve all in some way experienced. Yet I have been moved by the resilience of our communities who have refused to be silent: from those cheering each evening out of their apartment windows for healthcare workers in the springtime, to those in our summer streets demanding equity, justice, and an end to systemic violence, to those who helped get out the vote across the nation this fall. For this, I am endlessly thankful. The New York City AIDS Memorial may be a sober reminder of the toll taken when those in power ignore an epidemic that stares them right in the face, but it also is a tribute to the power of activism, of hope, and of collective voices demanding to be heard and not forgotten.

—Dave Harper, executive director, New York City AIDS Memorial

I am actually grateful for a lot right now. First of all for my health and the health of my family, which has been fine this whole time. We are fortunate enough to have been able to isolate as needed.  

I feel grateful to be in San Francisco where I have found that my community has been very supportive of the gallery during this time. We have been able to focus on the local in new innovative ways. One example is the founding of 8-Bridges, a new online platform that serves Bay Area galleries and sponsors events. It was founded by myself and a group of like-minded dealers in the city. I think the stresses of the pandemic have encouraged us to become creative and to collaborate more. Through this platform we are sponsoring San Francisco Arts Week next year, the week of January 25th, in place of the traditional fairs that would have happened at this time. Of course it will be more decentralized, but we hope to keep the momentum of previous years alive and create a reason for the community to come together.

—Claudia Altman-Siegel, founder, Altman Siegel Gallery 

Natalie Frank’s ceramics.

I’m thankful for a future with fewer sociopaths, bad hair dye, and divisiveness. I’m also thankful to have discovered ceramics, which have safeguarded my fantasy and feelings of joy during this very unfanciful time. 

—Natalie Frank, artist

I am grateful for all exquisitely common delicacies of life.

—Heather Flow, art advisor