Post 5: Home is Here- Essay

Home is Here

The exhibit “Home is Here” is an all woman insulation curated by Lucy Rovetto, a BFA ‘91 Alumni, featuring eleven incredible artist such as Laia Cabrera, Nicole DeMaio, Isabelle Duverger, Jaz Graf, Katelyn Halpern, Jin Jung, Pat Lay, Tina Maneca, Cheryl R. Riley and Jennifer Roberts. As well as Former chair of the art department,a painter, sculptor, educator, Ward Mount which was presented by JC Historian martin Perice. The shows main theme was memory, history, ancestry, and connection, and through these pieces you could feel the connection and memory that they held whether it was your own or not.

Last week the class had discussed the term and active practice of “Curatorial Activism” which was stated in the reading “Towards a Curatoiral Activism” By Dr. Maura Reilly

“I have coined the term ‘curatorial activists’ to describe those individuals who have committed themselves to ‘counter-hegemonic initiatives’ that give voice to those who have been historically silenced or omitted from the ‘master narrative’. In other words, curatorial activists focus exclusively on work produced by women, artists of colour, non-Europeans or queer artists”(page. 4). This show is exactly that, Curatoirail Activism.

In the art field and especially gallery shows, Cis-White-Straight-Males are always shown as the ideal artist, as if throughout history and today nothing outside of that standard exits. Because of this, I cant even fathom the amount of work that was lost, never discovered, or was possibly pushed to the storage/archive due to its “inpopulatrity”,theres many incredible woman, queer, BIPOC artist we might have missed in history due to this ignorance. As stated in Dr. Reillys work, “the numbers demonstrate that the fight for equality is far from over. Indeed, the more closely one examines art world statistics, the more glaringly obvious it becomes that, despite the decades of postcolonial, feminist, anti-racist, and queer activism and theorising, the ‘majority’ continues to be defined as white, Euro-American, heterosexual, privileged and, above all, male”(page. 2). Especially in the gallery world where its often rich white men who are paying for these pieces and paying the museums, they’re comfortable upholding what makes them stay comfortable.

One of the works that really stood out to me within this exhibit was Nicole DeMaio is a composer, woodwind specialist, music educator, and interdisciplinary visual artist born in Bogotá, Colombia and based in the New York City area, Nicole Demaio “Through the Tin Can” which is an abstract mixed media piece. This piece took up the whole wall and could be compared to the visuals of a junk journal. This piece was a collection of old music sheets for those self-played pianos, birthday signs, strings from easter baskets, an anime lanyard, old jewlery, holiday decorations, a string of ears, like all the unthought objects coming together to create one loud piece, and it left me thunderstruck. Though no music played, words were said, you could hear it a collection of objects that an audience can cling to, memories reappearing that you had forgotten, like a birthday party, whispering gossip with cousins, that anime you liked in middle school, string from events or ribnion that kept a christmas gift together, what that classic self-played piano sounded like, singing the lyrics printed onto it while it played..although none of these things had sound, they sang beautifully.

Another artist that really stuck with me was painter and curator, Jenifer Roberts. I had the honor of helping her set up for this show and got to know her work as an artist, eventually learning our work comes from the same place in our heart. Memory and existence, Roberts had created these eight pieces she exhibited about thirty years ago, re-creating the family photos she had lost from memeory. It was frustrating and difficult, a re-death, remourning, those who lived and died in her life, hoping memeory can hold onto it as much as a one could hold a photo. I felt connected to these pieces, as I am doing a project about my Grandmother and my memory of her, holding what I can and grasping at what I have left of her. Because once someone is gone, all you really is have is what was left behind, photos, and memory. Roberts lost that, photos, maybe she doesnt have items that most of the folks in the photos held, all she had was memories and stroies.

Another part of the series was random left behind photos that you could buy from Amazon or second hand. As a common thrifter– I was surprised when she told me about this, because these were things I had thought of before, when most folks just walked past them, how in thrift stores theres often a section where you can look through vintage photos of random people, usually twenty-five-cents for three. I couldnt help but feel pity, how all these people had lives, where they alive? Did someone down the line not care for these? What were their lives like based off of the photo, where they happy? They looked happy..Oftem times these were celebrations, theme parks, family gatherings, friend-hang outs, connection and time captured in a frame, proof that a now unnamed person- existed. They all existed, and Ill never get to know who they are, maybe thats a good thing, maybe its not, but its sad that these priceless photos can be disgraded, not everyone has the storyteller. Thats why Its important to capture people, in your heart or memory, because once their name is stone, all they have is the love they gave to live on, even if down the line its unnamed.

Connection and the present are often pushed aside, not thought of, through both of these pieces we were connected back into the past and the present, connecting to people who once existed, their memories as well as our own. These also can have you thinking, maybe these people looked familiar, maybe we share the same memories, and maybe these second placed objects of string and a lanyard, is something we once held as well. But there's no brainer that this exhibit was a group of women, they can share the stories untold or existed, from someone who's family storyteller is a wonderful woman, and I continue that as well. Through these incredible artist they bring us to a flowing river where we can look at the reflection of ourselves and how each piece of love that's been left to us lives in us today, and how those memories will live in us just as water holds memory.