1 Scratch your travel itch.

From 2012 to 2019, photographer Kate Joyce flew regularly. With so much time spent sitting in the window seat, Joyce began thinking of the airplane as a studio and used her lens to document things often overlooked. “There is an unreasonableness in our human desire for flight,” says Joyce, a photographer for 25 years whose work often explores intimacy. “We are itinerant ‘featherless bipeds’ cocooned in reassuring cabin interiors supported by the mechanics of aerodynamics.”

The story of the Holsome family homesteaders is one of six told in a new Albuquerque Museum exhibit. Photograph courtesy of the Albuquerque Museum.

2 Travel through New Mexico history.

The history of Black homesteading gets a spotlight in the traveling exhibit, Facing the Sun: The Journey of African American Homesteaders in New Mexico, Vision, Belief, and Sovereign Ownership. Opening this weekend, it makes its first stop at Albuquerque Museum, where it will be on view through July 10.

Examining the history of six families in Las Cruces, Albuquerque, and Vado, the exhibit aims to dispel the myth that New Mexican history is tri-cultural (White, Indigenous, and Spanish) only. To create the projections, interactive displays, and digital art in the show, Electric Playhouse used family photos and images that paint a picture of this important piece of history. Facing the Sun is curated by the African American Museum and Cultural Center of New Mexico in collaboration with the City of Albuquerque’s Department of Arts and Culture.  

BCFF 2021-22 Trailer from Winter Wildlands Alliance on Vimeo.

3 Head to the backcountry.

Can’t get enough of the outdoors? The Backcountry Film Festival can help you get your adrenaline fix right from the comfort of your couch. The 17th annual event, produced by the Winter Wildlands Alliance and hosted by the Pajarito Environmental Education Center, features cinematic inspiration, aiming to help folks cherish winter, the wildlife that depends on it, and the power of human beings who partake in winter sports. See snow-capped peaks, skiers braving steep inclines, wolverines playing in fresh powder, and ice climbers scaling frozen waterfalls in the lineup of 14 movies. Finding Gulo: The Movement to Save the Wolverine, follows a citizen scientist who sets out to discover more about the mysterious and fierce creatures; A Tribute to a Glacier shows frozen landscapes set to a stunning musical soundtrack; and Reverie shows artist Bridgette Meinhold as she creates a massive snowy labyrinth in Utah.

Emily Margarit Mason is one of three artists featured in a new Currents 826 exhibit. Photograph courtesy of Currents 826.

4 Dive into vibrant works of art.

Currents 826, a new media gallery on Santa Fe’s Canyon Road, premieres the new exhibit, Vibrant Pool, with an opening reception Friday from 5 to 9 p.m. On view through May 1, the exhibit presents sound installation, experimental photography, and light sculptures by New Mexico-based artists Emily Margarit Mason, Kirsten Angerbauer, and Zuyva Sevilla.

Mason has 10 images in the exhibit, all from her Balancing Act series, made between 2019 and 2021. “I think of the work as momentary sculpture sets for the camera,” she says. “My work physically reimagines the perceived world from something seen to something felt, exploring how the multifaceted nature of experience might emotionally manifest. The fragmented images mimic a moment you can almost remember.”

5 Kick it in the snow.

Weekend warriors and serious racers can both participate in the 18th Sandía Snowshoe Race, beginning Saturday at 10 a.m. Stepping off from near the Sandía Crest parking lot, the 5K race draws more than 100 competitors and winds through a number of trails and terrains. “We have some people who are super athletes,” says Mike Madden, president of Friends of the Sandía Mountains, which hosts the event. “The winner in 2020 finished in just under 30 minutes. Some of the slower people take an hour and a half to two hours.”