"Home Here" Exhibition
Curated by Lucy Rovetto, "Home Here" is, in her own words, a "dialogue between historical aspects and contemporary artists" or "a dialogue across generations" (Rovetto). The exhibit displays the works from several women artists such as Laia Cabrera, Nicole DeMaio, Isabelle Duverger, Jaz Graf, Katelyn Halpern, Jin Jung, Pat Lay, Tina Maneca, Cheryl R. Riley, and Jennifer Roberts. However, these is also an inclusion of works from former NJCU Art Department Chair and Jersey City resident, Ward Mount who was a well rounded artist with a distinct perspective of her own and who serves as the historical aspect of the whole piece. Each piece presented by the artists have no labels, an act done purposely so that the art ebbs and flows with one another in order to create a conversation, an overall narrative, about the space the audience finds themselves in, how they may connect with, or fit within, that space, and even create an intimate relationship with everyday objects and the art based on them.
With the proximity of these stories overlapping, it felt almost natural to be drawn to all the work, attach a self-reflective narrative to them and want to discuss them all. Yet, despite finding them all fascinating in their own ways, two artists stood out to me: Jennifer Roberts and Nicole DeMaio. Roberts' series, "Family Album", is both a display of her personal paintings and an installation of family photos that she has collected and arranged underneath her paintings. According to the artist statement given by Roberts, she experienced a massive loss of personal items and memories when she lost her storage unit. Said loss would lead her to consider painting from memory but she has stated that "the attempt was unpleasant and left me feeling melancholy" (Roberts). Her desire to find a way to recreate her memories, to reclaim them and ease her grief would lead to seeking out familiarity in the photos of others, especially those sold online or elsewhere. This act in itself, and the collaboration with other artists in the exhibit, is a form of art activism, and even similarly intervention. On one end, Roberts is challenging the commercialization of personal items and history as her journey leads to the question, or even realization, of how capitalism is capable of treating memory as sellable objects. A storage unit filled with someone's possessions and memories can be easily sold to someone else, there's even shows on it. It's a bitter realization but Roberts' actions of restoring value to discarded memories, incorporating her own paintings, and working with the other women to display pieces that flow with each other creates a collective experience that establishes community through art.
"Family Album" resonates with me for a very similar reason to Roberts. As Roberts has lost her precious photos, so have I. I have little to no photos of myself, family or friends, from childhood. Being a 90s kid, everything was on film/camera and much of the rolls are gone. The photo albums missing. This loss feels like a small void and leaves me trying to fill in the gaps of memory at times. Roberts' grief, as stated, becomes a collective experience that bridges artist and audience together. The intimacy of her installation, the small table with its chair and the journal laid on it, also highlights a collective reflectiveness we might feel when trying to sit in a spot and recall something. All this considered, it calls to mind the quote from Stefanie Graf's, An Inroduction to Activist Art, where she states "the interests, hardships, and experiences of marginalized groups are often underrepresented or not discussed at all. Activist art can make these specific experiences visible and include them in historical, social, and political discourse." Roberts succeeds in bringing awareness to a specific experience, loss of memories and a want for them back, and offering up a chance to discuss its within a social space.
Another artist in the space I mentioned, Nicole DeMaio, and her series titled "Through the Tin Can" blends almost seamlessly with Roberts within the space. DeMaio's installation is a collection of founds objects that, in her own words, is meant to "explore themes of nostalgia, intimacy, and connection" (DeMaio). Very similar to Roberts, DeMaio's collection of objects serves as an act of art activism and intervention through its ability to challenge the nature of the objects used and reclaim their value through repurposing them for another meaning. DeMaio's piece creates its connection in a similar way to Roberts as well; where Roberts presents absence through loss and and reintroduces them in a way where the audience can reflect and connect, DeMaio presents absence "through the tin can", or distance with time, creating a shared experience based on old memories. VHS tapes, mp3 players of an old era, tamagotchis, etc. All pieces used within personal environments, now presented publicly, create a connection with audiences who feel nostalgic and those who can relate in their own way.
DeMaio's installation brings to mind a piece I worked on for a class with the theme of nostalgia, as well as another I did just for fun around the same time. Nostalgia and the transformation of every day objects into a conversation is something I've always been fascinated by and strive to constantly bring into my own work. I'm glad to have experienced both Roberts and DeMaio, and ultimately feel a connection with the two.
As Dr. Maura Reilly states in their writing, Towards a Curatorial Activism, "we must re-examine cultural objects and social practices to understand the patterns of everyday life that shape the past and inevitably imprint the future". With the chosen artists and their ability to redefine everyday objects in order to invoke narratives based on emotions and connections, it becomes apparent that Reilly's writing rings true. If we can work towards continuously curating spaces that allow for important conversations and the interweaving of stories, we can experience a massive change within the art field.
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