A Path Described by a Body

Title

A Path Described by a Body

Location

Las Cruces
New Mexico
USA

Curatorial Statement

Artists who are mothers are organizing in a way that has never happened before. The particular realities and difficulties faced by artists with children have led to this groundswell of international, community-oriented organizations, exhibits, publications, advocacy groups, and studio models with on-site child care. This is a generational shift away from many female artists hiding the fact that they have children to the complete opposite - artists tackling pregnancy, birth, and child-rearing in their creative
practices.

An “orbit” is defined as “a path described by one body in its revolution about another.” In the orbit of a person revolving around their child, the movement of the body in question describes the caregiving relationship. Our bodies, when engaged in such orbits around one another, articulate something about who we are. By placing the circle as form in relation to representations of pregnancy, maternal care, and the body, this exhibition puts forth the circle not as a static structure but as a potential path, or orbit, for engagement with one another. These dynamic forms are produced by a body in time engaged in a particular practice - the varied orbit of care.

In Danila Rumold’s Washing Machine Drawing, blueberry dye is stained in an elegant scroll of Kozo paper, dropping from the ceiling and stretching across the floor. The experience of being on a one to one scale with the work, places the body inside it, creating a relational experience to the senses as we orbit around the gallery space. The work introduces machine as a mark making device, highlighting the ways in which caregiving (or domestic labor) and an art practice intersect. A circular, velvet black photographic collage, Sleep Cycle II by Mira Burack brings the viewer into an imagined dark hole of sleep. Photographs of bed linens layer over a circular form inviting us to recall the space between our bodies and the materials surrounding us, invoking conversations around intimacy, connection, and rest.

“A Path Described By A Body” draws endless connections between viewer and artist. It invites us to consider the elements and suggestions of forms contextualized within broader cyclical narratives of motherhood, caretaking, and creativity. We ask for audiences to listen to what these types of paths could have to say as we are brought into the work and worlds of an intimate network of artists in New Mexico, actualizing our collective strength as we follow the threads within their narratives to the cosmic realities connecting us all.

Artists

Mira Burack
Tauna Cole-Dorn
Sharbani Das Gupta
Stephanie Lerma
Jessamyn Lovell
Rachel Popowcer
Zoe Spiliotis
Isadora Stowe
Tina Wolverton

Duration

February 27, 2020 - March 28, 2020

Collection

Citation

“A Path Described by a Body,” Artist Parent Index , accessed March 28, 2024, https://artistparentindex.com/items/show/496.

Output Formats

Item Relations

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Geolocation