InLight 2023 took place Friday, November 3-4th, 2023 along the 200 to 400 blocks of West Broad Street in Richmond, Virginia’s downtown Arts District. InLight is 1708’s annual public exhibition of contemporary art.
Reflection and Refraction honored InLight's fifteen-year history and its present and future as a contemporary art exhibition of site-specific, multimedia works in the public sphere. Just as InLight's form has changed and dispersed – refracted – so have the blocks surrounding 1708 Gallery. Reflection and Refraction brings InLight home to 1708 Gallery and the surrounding businesses to highlight how art continues to activate and animate one of Richmond's main arteries and thriving areas – downtown Broad Street.
Artist projects engaged with and expanded upon the histories and activities that comprise InLight, as well as Broad Street's current uses. These include the industrial, economic, and racial histories of downtown Richmond and their legacies; public transit and mobility; regional and commercial architectures and their many styles; the role of public art in the upper South; and the significance of Broad Street's surrounding communities.