Houston balloon sculpture exhibition explores ex-cult member's upbringing

A new exhibition at The Jung Center of Houston opening Aug. 19 will consist of massive sculptures made entirely out of balloons. Yes, balloons.

The project, titled "Out Of The Strong, Something Sweet," is the work of Houston's DJ Morrow. The show delves into Morrow's experiences growing up in The Family International cult, formerly known as The Children of God. Morrow knows balloons seem like an odd medium for such an exhibit. But his background as a balloon twister actually stems from his childhood in the cult, which was founded by his great-grandfather David Berg in the 1960s.

"Getting a regular job was pretty discouraged in the group," Morrow said. "It kind of just went against the high control nature of things, getting in the way of being dedicated to God. So balloon twisting was a very common way of raising money, but also community outreach."

Morrow learned balloon-twisting from his parents after his family had left the cult. They initially studied the skill because members of the group would regularly busk at malls or other public spaces as a way of "witnessing" for The Family, he said. "A lot of people who left the cult have a sour taste in their mouth for balloons because of the association."

Morrow, who's now 28, was born a few years after Berg died in 1994. His parents remained in the cult for more than a decade after Berg's death, moving internationally several times. They eventually left the group when Morrow was about 16, but the legacy of being raised among the group left lasting effects on Morrow's mental and emotional well-being.

Meanwhile, Morrow was getting more and more involved with the balloon twister community, adding to his skills thanks to YouTube and other sites. By 2019, he was working as a professional balloon-twister, performing at parties and other events. At the same time, Morrow was trying to process the trauma of having grown up in the cult, which included isolation, alienation and social anxiety, along with the grief of losing his older sister, who died in a pedestrian accident in 2015. He started making larger, more sculptural pieces on his own time instead.

"I was going through some really dark times, and I decided to work through that through balloon art for the first time," Morrow told Chron. "I'd never thought about using balloons in that deeply emotional way before.

"I made a couple of pieces that really resonated with people and I got some really interesting feedback," Morrow continued. "And that made me feel really great. So I was like thinking, maybe I should look into doing this a little bit more seriously."

Then, in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began. Morrow was working as both a balloon twister and a wedding videographer, and suddenly, dozens of his gigs dried up overnight. He was once again thrust into isolation and anxiety, but this time he had an outlet.

In 2021, Morrow posted one of his sculptural works to Reddit, a balloon rendition of Goya's painting "Saturn Devouring His Son." The sculpture went viral, being shared widely across Reddit, then Twitter (now X) and other social networks. In the comments on the Reddit post you can almost see Morrow discovering the potential of his talent, as numerous people encourage him to start showing his work.

On his own site, Morrow writes, "I had always felt there was a line I couldn't cross with my art while still pursuing gigs as a children's entertainer. The popularity of this image helped me to rethink my priorities and decide to stay true to my artistic sensibilities, as dark as those often are."

By 2023 Morrow had his first exhibit, a series of large-scale balloon sculptures made for the Hardy and Nance Studios as part of Houston's ArtCrawl. He worked for two weeks to build pieces that were only up for two days. The exhibit consisted of more than 3,000 balloons, he estimates.

That experience has led Morrow to the current exhibition at the Jung Center. His short-run show will be installed in a side room off the Jung Center's main gallery and will be open Aug. 19–24. Morrow will be onsite twisting balloons for part of the built environment most days, and will give an artist's talk at 2 p.m. on the final day. An opening reception is scheduled for 3 p.m to 6 p.m. on Aug. 19.

For this show, Morrow is working with the theme of the Biblical hero Samson. The centerpiece will be an 8-foot tall balloon sculpture, surrounded by an environment also rendered in balloons, and accompanied by several large-scale paintings. Morrow has also previously worked in collage, incorporating religious tracts from The Family, Fundamentalist homeschooling materials, letters and other ephemera.

Morrow is also drawn to the temporary, ephemeral nature of balloons as a medium. A sculpture made in homage to his sister incorporated a portrait of her that was meant to oxidize. As it did, it revealed a hidden message. Plus, the balloons are literally biodegradable—Morrow is specific about only working with latex balloons derived from tree sap.

Balloons can pop, gradually lose their air, shrivel, and otherwise decay over time, a characteristic that appeals to Morrow.

"For this exhibit, with the theme and the design that I'm going for, I think the aging of the balloon will actually work in my favor," Morrow said. "This is going to be a very dark piece. It's going to have, like, decay and gore, and it's going to look pretty gnarly to start off with."

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect DJ Morrow's correct age. It has also been updated to reflect that the entire Hardy and Nance exhibit consisted of about 3,000 balloons. A previous version of this story said that a single sculpture contained 3,000 balloons.