The Phillips Collection Acquires Artworks by DC and Baltimore Artists Featured in the Museum’s Juried Exhibition, Tomorrow the Sun Will Rise
Works by Kei Ito, Sharon Cheuk Wun Lee, Katie O’Keefe, Bria Sterling-Wilson, and Paloma Vianey to enter the museum’s permanent collection; Hannah Atallah awarded the People’s Choice Award
WASHINGTON, DC—The Phillips Collection announces the acquisition of five works by artists based in Washington, DC, and Baltimore from Tomorrow the Sun Will Rise: The Phillips Collection Juried Exhibition, on view through September 20, 2026. The works by Kei Ito, Sharon Cheuk Wun Lee, Katie O’Keefe, Bria Sterling-Wilson, and Paloma Vianey will join the museum’s permanent collection, marking the first works by these artists to enter the Phillips’s collection and expanding its representation of contemporary artists working in the greater Washington-Baltimore region. The museum also announces Hannah Atallah’s how stunningly beautiful that our sacred respect for earth, for life is deeper than our rage (Portrait of Salua Moussawel) (2024) as the recipient of the exhibition’s People’s Choice Award, selected by guests through public voting.
“Duncan Phillips built this museum on a conviction: that living artists deserve a champion, and that a great collection must reflect the creative energy of its time and place,” said Jonathan P. Binstock, Vradenburg Director and CEO of The Phillips Collection. “These acquisitions honor that conviction and deepen our commitment to the extraordinary artists working in the Washington-Baltimore region today.”
Drawing from 1,500 submissions, Tomorrow the Sun Will Rise brings together 48 artists from Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia and features 56 works reflecting a wide range of artistic practices and perspectives. The exhibition highlights artists engaging with themes including identity, memory, diaspora, political life, ecology, labor, grief, and collective histories.
The People’s Choice Award offered guests an opportunity to connect directly with the exhibition.
THE ACQUISITIONS
The Phillips Collection has acquired the following works for its permanent collection:
• Kei Ito (Baltimore, MD)’s Sungazing Scroll (2024) connects the artist’s family history to the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, which his grandfather survived. Created through Ito’s breath and direct exposure of photographic paper to sunlight, the work transforms a deeply personal history into a meditation on memory, loss, and healing. The scroll’s 108 exposures correspond to the artist’s breaths, invoking the ritual significance of the number 108 in Japanese Buddhism, and the possibility of healing and growth. Sungazing Scroll received First Prize.
• Sharon Cheuk Wun Lee (Washington, DC)’s Afterimage: Borrowed Flora (2025) draws on an old postcard depicting Asian women in tropical landscapes and floral interiors, translating the image into an aluminum engraving that examines the veiled wounds of Asian women’s diasporic histories. Recasting traditional engraving within a contemporary conceptual practice, Lee bridges historical imagery, craft, and material experimentation to create new narratives around the intertwined representations of women, plants, and ornament. Tomorrow the Sun Will Rise marks Lee’s first museum exhibition. Afterimage: Borrowed Flora received an Honorable Mention.
• Katie O’Keefe (Baltimore, MD)’s Paralysis (2025) uses translucent tulle and silk organza, stitched with colorful thread, to visualize the artist’s experience of invisible illness. The mirrored figures portray the contrast between how O’Keefe’s body appears to others and her internal experience, offering an intimate reflection on pain and healing. Through the labor-intensive process of stitching, O’Keefe traces a journey toward finding strength, beauty, and acceptance. Paralysis received an Honorable Mention.
• Bria Sterling-Wilson (Owings Mills, MD)’s The Get Together (2025) brings together family photographs and found imagery to explore the evolving nature of Black familial life. Drawing on memories of family reunions and her grandmother’s aging, the diptych holds space for the energy of togetherness and the quieter emotions of nostalgia and loss. Sterling-Wilson honors memory as something living, layered, and deeply felt, inviting viewers to consider how family histories shape our sense of connection and belonging. Tomorrow the Sun Will Rise marks Sterling-Wilson’s first museum exhibition.
• Paloma Vianey (Washington, DC)’s Chamarra no. 25: Parque Central (Cempasúchil) (2025) is part of the artist’s Chamarra series, in which hand-sewn jackets are incorporated into paintings to reframe portraits of her hometown, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Featuring the cempasúchil, or Mexican marigold, the work highlights the serenity and communal life of a city often defined by violence. For Vianey, painting is an act of care, allowing her to portray her city with vulnerability and resilience. In 2023, she was part of the inaugural cohort of the CARD Fellowship, a collaboration between The Phillips Collection, The Nicholson Project, and DC Public Library.
People’s Choice Award winner Hannah Atallah (Baltimore, MD)’s how stunningly beautiful that our sacred respect for earth, for life is deeper than our rage (Portrait of Salua Moussawel) (2024) explores the experience of living in diaspora while holding onto a homeland that is being destroyed and rebuilt. Her mixed-media sculptures reference symbolism from Lebanon and Atallah’s own experiences. In her portraits of her friends, the artist captures the intimate and social dimensions of life beyond dominant narratives of war and tragedy. In doing so, Atallah seeks to honor and dignify the humanity of everyday individuals and cultures.
EXHIBITION SUPPORT
The exhibition is organized by The Phillips Collection.
Curated by Tie Jojima, Curator of Global Contemporary Art, The Phillips Collection, and Tsedaye Makonnen, Guest Curator.
Made possible through the generous support of Akio Tagawa.
With critical support from the Carolyn Alper Fund for Contemporary Art, the Frauke de Looper Trust, and the Marion F. Goldin Charitable Fund.
EXHIBITION PUBLICATION
The exhibition is accompanied by a digital publication, offering further insight into the exhibition’s development and themes. Access a PDF of the publication here.
IMAGE GALLERY:
High-resolution press images are available upon request. Please contact Lauryn Cantrell, lcantrell@phillipscollection.org.
IMAGES: Acquisitions (left to right, clockwise): Kei Ito (Baltimore, MD), Sungazing Scroll, 2024, Chromogenic photogram, sunlight, and artist’s breath, 60 x 12 x 6 in.; Paloma Vianey (Washington, DC), Charmarra no. 25: Parque Central (Cempasúchil), 2025, Oil on canvas, fabric, and zipper, 20 x 16 x 5/8 in.; Sharon Cheuk Wun Lee (Washington, DC), Afterimage: Borrowed Flora, 2025, Engraving on aluminum, 60 x 42 in.; Katie O’Keefe (Baltimore, MD), Paralysis, 2025, Freehand machine embroidery on tulle fabric and hand embroidery on silk organza, 29 x 48 in.; Bria Sterling-Wilson (Owings Mills, MD), The Get Together, 2025, Collage of found imagery and family photographs on paper, 18 3/4 x 30 in. (left) and 23 x 30 in. (right); The Phillips Collection, Director’s Discretionary Fund, 2026. People’s Choice Award Winner: Hannah Atallah (Baltimore, MD), how stunningly beautiful that our sacred respect for earth, for life is deeper than our rage (Portrait of Salua Moussawel), 2024, Acrylic, aerosol paint, canvas, acrylic yarn, muslin, polyester backing, and poplar, 72 x 31 x 22 in.
ABOUT THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION
The Phillips Collection, America’s first museum of modern art, was founded in 1921. The museum houses one of the world’s most celebrated Impressionist and American modern art collections and continues to grow its collection with important contemporary voices. Its distinctive building combines extensive new galleries with the former home of its founder, Duncan Phillips. The Phillips’s impact spreads nationally and internationally through its diverse and experimental special exhibitions and events, including its award-winning education programs for educators, students, and adults; renowned Phillips Music series; and dynamic art and wellness and Phillips after 5 events. The Phillips Collection’s extensive community partnerships include Phillips@THEARC, the museum’s satellite campus in Southeast DC. The Phillips Collection is a private, non-government museum, supported primarily by donations.