Brooke Smith will be exhibiting her works alongside Alexis Stevenson in exhibition, MORE THAN MEAT, on May 26th, 2017.
In response to Carolee Schneemann’s seminal exhibition More than Meat Joy and recent award of the Venice Biennale Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, Brooke Smith and Alexis Stevenson use a variety of media to explore the objectification of women throughout society. Like Schneemann, both artists hold a strong focus on identity politics through the performance of body, gender, and race.
Smith’s work revolves around the nature of self curation through social media and the pressures placed upon women to meet constructed standards within our hypermobile society. By playing with the cliche of women as meat, she is commenting on objectification through contrasting images of women.
Similarly, Stevenson’s work visually and conceptually propels the viewer into an examination of race, identity, and socio-politics. She utilizes performance art and spectacle to initiate discussions concerning the historical context of systematic oppression in this country. Her work is performed in historic slave port cities and during the performances, she presents her body as a visual signifier of unseen history. The raw cotton sculptural piece is a reference to African-American slaves and the role they played in ultimately building the foundations of this nation’s economy.
Intimate included in SCAD's Senior B.F.A. Exhibition at Alexander Hall Gallery.
Browse outstanding student work at the painting department’s annual senior B.F.A. exhibition. Enjoy a variety of pieces that explore traditional and contemporary methods, and feature each artist’s unique vision and development.
The exhibition is juried by SCAD painting alumni mentor Alex Gingrow (M.F.A., painting, 2007) and curated by painting professor Vanessa Platacis and assistant curator of SCAD exhibitions Ben Tollefson.
The exhibition will run from May 12th through June 3rd, 2017.
Smith's Intimate will be included in Nepantla on June 3rd, 2016.
The scope of the exhibition addresses the globally widespread concerns about immigration, identity, displacement, and segregation that converge upon our contemporary moment. It seeks to assess the boundaries- or borders- of political, social, and cultural dichotomies that affect our everyday lives. The use of social media is our generation’s primary platform for social engagement- our own version of modern activism. It is at once a vehicle for globalization, and an enabler of detached communication. The goal of this exhibition is to provide a platform where social engagement can exist, encouraging a critical discourse within art students of diverse nationalities, ethnicities, ages, and vocations.
Nepantla is a Nahuatl term— the ancient language of Aztec origin still used today by several native populations of Mexico. It indicates a concept of being “in the middle of” (different cultures, as traditionally meant by colonized Aztecs). In the arts, nepantla encompasses historical and spiritual aspects of life when being caught between literal or metaphorical crossroads. Historically, it has also been identified with painful experiences, relating to a personal state of invisibility and displacement. Understanding nepantla as a space of “in-between-ness”- where opposing ideas are viewed at the same time- we must question where boundaries within ourselves can be found, and how our personal borders interact with our surrounding environments.
As potential global leaders, we must find and promote an understanding of the diaspora of people, cultures, and ideas that is being felt worldwide. With nepantla in mind, this show seeks to bring collaborative efforts together to showcase how today’s art students are working in the midst of a disrupted socio-political sphere. If we dissect who we are now, where we come from, and where we are going, we can begin to expunge societal boundaries and emerge as a unified, human community.