The American landscape is normally portrayed as a place for contentment and peace, even as it preserves a record of trauma and violence.
Visible artist Dionne Lee makes use of images, collage and online video to grapple with these issues of ability, personal history and the mother nature of survival in this place. Presented in partnership with the Centre for Fine Art Photography, the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art is featuring Lee’s work in Dionne Lee: A Muscle Memory, which investigates how trauma informs resilience in America’s wildernesses.
The solo exhibition is on view in the Will work on Paper Collection gallery from July 14 to Sept. 19.
Lee holds an MFA from the California College or university of the Arts and considers the issues of, and twin legacies in, photographic landscapes in her get the job done. She appears to be to historical narratives to identify American soil as a site of trauma and issues how history determines the autonomy and endurance of people throughout time. Lee’s operate also options research and physical action — such as the repeated visual appeal of fingers — to locate the entire body in the scenic vista. Most of the art in A Muscle Memory pre-dates the pandemic, however Lee confronts the now ubiquitous repercussions of global uncertainty, climate change and natural disasters. She asks the crucial question: Who is most effective positioned to survive in these chaotic, at any time-changing spaces?
‘Urgent duty’
“Filling out the true history of this land we now simply call the United States of America is an urgent responsibility of artists, historians, museums and the basic general public,” says Hamidah Glasgow, executive director and curator at the C4FAP. “Lee’s perform is a significant piece of the narrative and dialogue that has largely been disregarded. A Muscle mass Memory constructs a new language of ancestral lineage, alternate associations to the wilderness, and deep, hard-won resilience.”
In this exhibition, Lee collages and juxtaposes discovered images from survival manuals with silver gelatin prints of her individual photos. The analog method of this printing medium, which the artist also employs in repurposing her located photos, mirrors the instinctual and tactile character of endurance skills in the landscape. By studying traditional wilderness survival, Lee investigates how trauma and history inform everyday existence, one’s ability to persevere, and the tenacity in working together with the land.
A Muscle mass Memory will be accompanied by added programming. The artist is scheduled to talk on at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 2 and will later join CSU poet and College Distinguished Professor Camille Dungy and photographer Odette England in discussion at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 3. The exhibition and all associated programs are free to the public.
About GAMA
The Gregory Allicar Museum of Artwork invitations individuals to engage with art and each individual other to encourage fresh views and marvel. The museum is a catalyst for visual literacy and vital thinking that instills a passion for understanding. For up-to-date museum data, go to artmuseum.colostate.edu.