Sebastian Bruno-Harris, Rob Croll, Nick D’Alessandro, Van Payne. Curated by Taj Richardson.

"Wherever you go, there you are."

"It ain't over till it's over."

"He who is meant to be a basket-carrier is born with the handle in his hand."

The intended meaning of a proverb or idiom should be self-evident. Something has happened, an unwanted outcome has materialized, and these familiar phrases offer a way to make peace with it in order to move on. Passed down from the likes of Confucius, Solomon, and goodreads.com, they promise wisdom, purpose, or direction when certainty feels out of reach.

The Portuguese proverb "All is fish that comes to the net" could be dismissed as just another platitude, another version of "It is what it is." But, viewed from another angle, it proposes an ethic of agency rather than resignation. It asks: How do we turn what we are given into what we need and honor it?