Explore the connections between words, coping, memory, and loss through works using text in various media and languages, curated by Erika Diamond.
In the most difficult or sublime of moments, it can be hard to communicate our deepest emotions. Often these experiences, rooted in or worn by the body, need catharsis. These artists use text in the form of lists, poetry, prose, and protest in an attempt to heal, connect, and…find the words.
This exhibition runs from Feb. 8 through March 21. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday - Thursday and 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. on Fridays. The gallery is closed on all college holidays and during any event that closes the Jamestown Campus.
About the artists:
Indira Allegra gives us the tools to put our shared experiences into words through their interactive website, the Grammar of Grief Handbook. In cascading ribbon installations, Valaria Tatera uses minimal color and text to underscore the vital importance of “Justice” and “Nibi” (water), calling attention to unanswered violence against indigenous women and the earth. Raheleh Filsoofi questions the idea of home and homeland through the dissonant stories of migrant women. Similarly, Mercedes Jelinek’s mixed media photography installation bathes us in the familiar feeling of alienation that occurs when our words get lost in translation as a foreigner.
Marisa Finos gives ceramic form to the lost-then-found grocery lists we’ve all misplaced or encountered, reminding us of our own lost words and the fallibility of memory at any age. SaraBeth Post Eskuche’s cast glass word jumbles are shaped in childlike innocence but steeped in longing. Through community-based workshops, Aram Han Sifuentes helps others use their words and the clothes on their backs to create urgent, subversive, and portable calls to justice.
Find more information on each artist and links to their websites at the galleries webpage: sunyjcc.edu/experience/arts/galleries/weeks/current.
Cost
Free
Contact
More information
About the curator:
Erika Diamond is a textile-focused artist, curator, and educator. She holds degrees from Rhode Island School of Design and Virginia Commonwealth University. She has exhibited nationally and abroad in such venues as Contemporary Craft, Dinner Gallery, Form & Concept Gallery, and Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art. Her work is included the collections of San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles and Ally Bank. Residencies and Grants include: McColl Center, Platte Forum, UNCA STEAM Studio.
