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.

1708 Gallery’s 15th annual InLight took place November 18-19, 2022 at Bryan Park in Richmond, Virginia. InLight 2022 artists’ created works that engaged with and expanded upon the histories and current activities that comprise Bryan Park, as well as the site’s current uses. These include Gabriel’s Rebellion and its legacies; disc golf and soccer; bird watching; the park’s environmental and ecological life; the park’s wildlife as well as its native flora and fauna; weather and climate patterns in the U.S. upper south; and of course the park’s significance to its surrounding communities. The artworks focused on ideas around gathering and dwelling, waiting and interruption, play and contemplation and will be future-thinking projects that reflect but are not bound by the histories and themes surrounding Bryan Park.

1708 Gallery’s 14th annual InLight took place November 12-13, 2021 at Great Shiplock Park, Chapel Island, and nearby sites along the Virginia Capital Trail and Low Line in Richmond. Projects engaged with and expanded upon the multiple themes and histories that can be found at these sites such as: trade and labor of then-enslaved peoples of African and Indigenous descent during and following the industrial revolution; the environmental impact—especially concerning water resources—of commerce and infrastructure; and the cultivation of spaces for alternative forms of historical preservation.

1708 Gallery’s 13th annual InLight took place November 12-15, 2020 at sites across Richmond and addressed the paired themes of Safety and Accountability.

In response to COVID-19, InLight’s multi-site platform allowed for socially distanced and virtual viewing. Further inspired by the ongoing community dialogues surrounding the unjust and inequitable treatment of Black lives and by Richmond’s coming together in support and aid during these crises, InLight 2020 focused on Safety and Accountability.

InLight 2019 took place on Friday and Saturday, November 15 and 16, 2019 from 7 - 11 PM at Chimborazo Park in the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond. Projects focused on the social and geographic history of this park including two key moments in the park's history being the location of the largest Confederate military hospital during the Civil War and following Emancipation, hosting a Freedmen’s community for formerly enslaved African-Americans. InLight artists and projects responded to, elaborated on, and proposed new ways of understanding these complex histories.

InLight 2018 took place on Friday, November 16, 2018 from 7PM to Midnight AND on Saturday, November 17, 2018, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. And in recognition of 1708 Gallery's 40th Anniversary, InLight 2018 focused on ideas of Community.

On November 3rd, 2017, 1708 Gallery’s 10th Annual InLight Richmond illuminated the City's Arts and Culture District along West Broad Street with light-based installations, performances, interactive projects, and a Community Lantern Parade. InLight 2017 took as its inspiration the 1901 Electric Carnival that enlivened Broad Street with a replica of the Eiffel Tower and tens of thousands of lights.

On November 11, 2016, 1708 Gallery's 9th annual InLight Richmond brought light-based installations and performances to Scott's Addition. The exhibition featured 16 artists or artist collectives selected works by Ellina Kevorkian, Artistic Director of Residency Programs at Bemis Center for Contemporary Art as well as 5 special curated projects and 4 community projects.

On November 13th & 14th, 2015, 1708 Gallery's 8th annual InLight Richmond illuminated the grounds of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts including the E. Claiborne and Lora Robins Sculpture Garden. For the first time, InLight Richmond was held for two nights allowing for more light-based artwork and audience engagement. The exhibition featured special curated projects as well as juried works selected by Alex Baker, Director at Philadelphia's Fleisher/Ollman Gallery.

On November 21, 2014, 1708 Gallery's 7th annual InLight Richmond illuminated Monroe Park, one of Richmond's most historically significant public spaces. The exhibition featured performances, sculpture, large-format projections, and interactive projects selected by juror Denise Markonish, Curator at Mass MoCA.

On November 8, 2013, 1708 Gallery's 6th annual InLight Richmond 2013 illuminated the waterways, pathways, walls, sidewalks, green spaces, bridges and terraces found in Shockoe along the Riverfront Canal Walk. The exhibition spanned from the Turning Basin to 17th Street, lighting the way for visitors to view light-based art and performances.

On November 2, 2012, 1708 Gallery's 5th annual InLight Richmond illuminated the facades, storefront windows, parking lots and alleyways of Richmond's downtown Arts & Culture District with light-based art and performances.

On October 21, 2011, 1708 Gallery's presented its fourth annual InLight Richmond illuminating Richmond's downtown riverfront and the buildings and grounds at historic Tredegar. The 2011 exhibition was selected by juror Matthew Lyons, curator at The Kitchen, in New York.

InLight Richmond 2010, the third annual public exhibition of contemporary art inspired by light, took place on October 22, 2010 in Richmond's Shockoe Slip. Guest juror Amanda McDonald Crowley, Executive Director of Eyebeam, NY, selected 39 installations created by 60 artists that present a mix of visual and performance art showcased in a variety of unexpected spaces.

InLight Richmond 2009, the second annual exhibition of contemporary public art inspired by light, took place on September 25, 2009 from dusk until midnight. Downtown Richmond was once again transformed by visual and performance art presented in various public spaces—including sidewalks and walls, storefronts and buildings—along East Broad and East Grace Street and 5th and 8th Street.

InLight Richmond was created in 2008 as a way to give something to the community on the occasion of 1708 Gallery's 30th birthday. Thus was born the idea of a one-night, public art exhibition that would offer our community a chance to engage with contemporary art outside the gallery walls. The innagural InLight Richmond was held on September 5, 2008 along West Broad Street in 1708's downtown neighborhood.