SHG PRINTS FEATURED IN ReCoding the Codex: Cultural Heritage through Language at ReflectSpace

ReCoding the Codex: Cultural Heritage through Language

ReflectSpace | Glendale Central Library
222 East Harvard Street
Glendale, CA 91205

EXHIBITION ON VIEW
July 25 – October 10, 2026

ReflectSpace’s Press Release

Works by fourteen Self Help Graphics artists are featured in ReCoding the Codex: Cultural Heritage through Language, an innovative ReflectSpace exhibition that considers the complicated relationship between language, social justice, and cultural heritage.

The codex is the historical name for a book, this becomes the starting point for the artists to re-create or re-code the way language is seen and read. Located inside Central Library, Glendale’s ultimate repository of language and books, ReflectSpace is the ideal setting for this exhibition, which intersects art, social justice, and language.

 
 

Bryan Ida, from the Con.Text series, 2021

Through drawing, painting, sculpture, installation and video, the artists employ language in the form of script, handwriting, calligraphy, historical records, and archival and commercial texts, to highlight social justice issues that are relevant to their unique cultural communities. Based in the U.S. and Korea, ReCoding the Codex addresses colonization, Japanese American incarceration, and exploitation of agricultural workers, creating an international dialogue about harnessing the power of text and word in imaginative ways.

ReflectSpace artists: Hyun Ho Hwang, Bryan Ida, Jin Woo Kim, Narsiso Martinez and Jung Min Park.

 

SELECTED ARTWORKS FROM SHG’S PROFESSIONAL PRINTMAKING PROGRAM

 
 

In the PassageWay, works from Self Help Graphics & Art, extend these themes through pieces from their vast print and monograph collection.

PassageWay artists from Self Help Graphics & Art: Sandow Birk, Raul Caracoza Jr., Avis Charley, Alex Donis, Sandra Fernández, Lysa Flores, Brandy Flower, Melissa Govea (Tochtlita), Miles Hamada, Tina Hernandez (aka La Libertina), Sandra de la Loza, Álvaro D. Márquez, Dalila Paola Méndez, and Laura Molina.

 
 

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

 

Artist Reception

Saturday, July 25, 2026, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM

ReflectSpace | Glendale Central Library
222 East Harvard Street
Glendale, CA 91205

 
 

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

 

ReCoding the Codex, curated by Ara and Anahid Oshagan and Monica Hye Yeon Jun, is part of a series of ReflectSpace exhibitions addressing cultural heritage launched in 2025 with Reimagining Algorithms: Cultural Heritage in the Age of AI.

This exhibition is sponsored by the Glendale Arts & Culture Commission through funding from the Urban Art Fund.

 
 

PRESS MENTIONS

Digital Exhibition Catalogue