Lamont Gallery: Representing Feminism(s)
On Friday, Feb. 23, the first student-curated exhibition in two years opened in the Lamont Gallery. Entitled “Representing Feminism(s),” the exhibition showcases works of different mediums, materials and topics from 34 artists, with the purpose of demonstrating different interpretations of feminism according to individual identities. Exhibition attendees conversed with the fifteen artists who were present at the opening while watching artist Teresa Ascencao’s performative drawing rendition.
The subject of feminism arose from discussions surrounding the gallery’s first exhibition this year, “Queer Kids,” which extensively featured the works of one photographer Michael Sharkey. Feminism seemed to be a natural progression, especially since spring term encompasses Women History Month and a number of courses exploring gender studies.
Gallery Manager Stacey Durand emphasized the gallery’s search for new artists, saying, “We made it a priority to feature many different artists.” After calling for submissions in December 2017, the gallery received more than 300 pieces from artists nationwide.
According to Durand, the gallery team wanted to reinstate a student-curated exhibition ever since the success of the first one, “Change Agents,” displayed in the spring of 2016. Gallery Curator Lauren O’Neal selected a team of 12 student curators from Exonians involved in visual arts and the Lamont Gallery proctors. Their job was to examine the 300 pieces and cull ones that would make the final cut.
For senior Maya Kim, a gallery proctor since her lower year, the “Representing Feminism(s)” exhibition was her last project before graduating from Exeter. “There are different kinds of feminism [and] intersectional is what we try to be. I was afraid that it would look too pink. One way of seeing feminism and being womanly is not true for everyone,” she said.
Similarly, upper Natalie Love stressed that her biggest fear was that the exhibition would be dismissed as typical feminist art. “People think about lots of unshaven armpits and lots of blooming flowers in the shape of a vagina,” she said. “I was worried that it would look like that.”
For upper Olivia Ross, the most memorable artwork from the exhibition was Raquel Fornasaro’s Cutting Ties, a painting of a woman of color holding a chainsaw. “It was clear to me from the way she held it that she was considering having an abortion,” she said. “It symbolized the state of health care for women of color in an interesting way that makes you slightly uncomfortable, and you don’t know how to place it.”
“The cool thing about having a diverse art exhibition is you have something for everyone,” Ross said. She was glad that a lot of her friends felt the exhibition expanded how they thought about feminism, saying, “It’s really a lifestyle more than a cause.”
The different mediums include video arts, silkscreen, watercolor, fiber arts and lace-making. Several classes have spent time at the exhibition with their instructors, including English Instructor Patricia Burke-Hickey’s “Feminism in Literature,” History Instructor Betty Luther-Hillman’s “Women, Gender and Society” and Religion Instructor Thomas Simpson’s “Gender, Feminism and Religion in Film.”
Walking away from the exhibition, lower Elizabeth Kostina commented, “What ‘Representing Feminism(s)’ does is give you a dictionary on the word feminism. There are different forms of it, delineated within each person.” For her, the exhibition was so beautiful because it “showcas[ed] their intersections and their deviations, never putting a limit on the word and never stopping it as it keeps growing with generations.”