We’re a Mystery Which Will Never Happen Again

Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA

May 26-August 22

“we’re a mystery which will never happen again, a miracle which has never happened before”- E. E. Cummings

Kala Gallery is excited to present We’re a Mystery Which Will Never Happen Again, anexhibition exploring everyday myth, mystery, and the potential for discovery within the present moment. Featuring works by Woody De Othello, Jane Hambleton, David Huffman, Lucy Puls, Meghan Shimek,and Maryam Yousif, the exhibition invites viewers to reimagine daily life through curiosity, attention, and inquiry.

The exhibition also draws on the concept of ichigo ichie (一期一会), a philosophy rooted in the Japanese tea tradition and associated with tea master Sen no Rikyū. Meaning “one time, one meeting,” the phrase reminds us that every encounter is singular and unrepeatable. Later articulated in its contemporary form by Naosuke Ii during the late Edo period, the idea reflects a deep awareness of impermanence - an ethos of fully living shaped in times of political and social transition. In a time marked by uncertainty and constant change, the works in this exhibition invite audiences to turn toward the immediacy of lived experience - where the ordinary becomes charged with emotion, memory, and possibility. Across sculpture, painting, drawing, textiles, photography, and print, familiar materials and forms are transformed into sites of wonder,prompting us to slow down and encounter the world anew.

https://www.kala.org/exhibition/were-a-mystery-which-will-never-happen-again/‍ ‍