Unseen Routes + Loved Here: A Mother–Daughter Mapping at Opalka Gallery

Ever since I was a child, museums have been my place of wonder. Growing up in Albany, the New York State Museum was where I first learned to love history, artifacts, and the way stories live in space. Later, I worked in museums across New York City—but that first spark never left me.

Now, I’m honored to bring that lifelong connection home. My new work, Unseen Routes: Mapping Black Albany’s Past, Present, and Possible Futures, is part of Compass Roses: Maps by Artists — Albany, on view at Opalka Gallery through October 11, 2025.

Unseen Routes is a digital film installation that blends archival research, speculative storytelling, and memory work. Organized around the BaKongo Cosmogram, the piece maps Albany’s Black presence across time: memory and foundations, thriving communities, erasure and violence, and possible futures. It is both map and portal—an invitation to see the city’s unseen layers.

This show is especially meaningful because my daughter, Zen Spencer, is also an exhibiting artist. Her piece, Loved Here: A Map of Holding, Home, and Heart in Albany, is a large-format digital work that traces intimacy, care, and belonging across the city. Our works are in conversation with one another—hers charting the places of love and anchoring, mine tracing histories of erasure and imagination. Together, they weave a multi-generational map of Albany: what has been, what is held, and what we dream forward.

About the Exhibit
This Albany edition of Compass Roses was co-curated by Nadine Wasserman and Renee Piechocki, part of a national series that has previously appeared in places like Pittsburgh and Albuquerque. Thirty Albany-area artists were invited to create maps that reimagine the city—some navigate memory, others fictional landscapes, emotional geographies, or hidden histories.

Fall Programming Highlights at Opalka Gallery:

• Opening Reception: Friday, September 12, 6–9 pm — Pop-Up Beer Garden and exhibition launch
• Albany History in Maps: Saturday, September 13, 11 am — Presented by City Historian Tony Opalka, followed by a map scavenger hunt
• Virtual Artist Talk: Thursday, September 25, 6–8 pm — With curators and artists (registration required)
• Plus additional events throughout the run, including a kids’ art workshop, live performance, music, yoga, and more.

If you’re in the Capital Region this fall, I’d love for you to visit Opalka Gallery and experience this remarkable re-mapping of Albany. Admission is free, and the exhibit brings together so many powerful perspectives on place.

For those who can't get to the exhibit, you can watch the film and take one of the routes. Your responses will be included in a data visualization.

I’ll be sharing more behind-the-scenes reflections on Unseen Routes over at Electric Relaxation.