By Abby Mickler
The solo exhibition that was recently housed in the Dedo Maranville Gallery at Valdosta State University is one in which artist, Margi Weir, presents some of her works that depict issues and trends within our society today, mostly the negative aspects. Weir’s exhibition is entitled “Bearing Witness”, which seems appropriate considering the context and subject matter of her pieces.
As you walk through the double glass doors into the rectangular shaped gallery, the space feels very open and easily navigable. All of the artworks are displayed on the surface of the walls – nothing in the middle on the floor space other than three black benches for viewers to sit and observe. The fact that this space is so open ensures that nothing takes away the viewer’s attention from the actual works themselves. The artworks are so large, colorful, and visually complex that anything displayed or put up in the center of the gallery floor space would make it seem overwhelming. The neutral colors of the walls, the ceiling, the benches, and the floor, as well as the bright spotlights shining down upon each work, make the artworks stand out even more than they already do in a good way. Each piece has a small label beside it, which includes the title of the piece, the media, and the artist’s name, Margi Weir. The curator did well in deciding the layout of this compelling exhibition.
Margi Weir is an artist who, especially within her works of this specific exhibition, creates in regard to the negative issues that are going on in our society, in hopes to release some of her own fear or anger and educate her audience, leaving them questioning themselves and the world in which we live. Every artwork within this exhibition, most of which are large, life-size pieces, portrays a different social issue using color, pattern, emphasis, symbols and icons to make those points.
There are two works within the exhibition that, even though they maybe were not meant to, go together well, balancing each other, and could even be a diptych. Black Is,the title of the work that one will most likely see first while navigating through the gallery,refers to the negative ways in which our culture views and treats black individuals. On the other hand, her piece entitled White Privilege refers to the fact that individuals of the “white race” seem to have more dominion over society.
In the top center of the piece, Black Is, there is a short poem that reads as follows: “Black is Beautiful, Black is a color without hue, Black is the night, Black is…..”. Inside of a square shape along with this poem, the words “BLACK LIVES MATTER” appear in all caps in the center of the piece. There is the silhouette of a black cat licking its paw, sitting atop a strip of piano keys. On the outside, we see a row of black birds, or crows, perched upon the top side of the center square. Underneath the bottom side of the square, a row of black fists are raised in the air. Forming a black banner around all of this are words and phrases, all in white text, all having either the word “black” in it or being something that is the color black (for example: onyx, ebony, and coal). Lastly, forming a banner around those words and phrases are silhouettes of black panthers. This piece, I believe, serves to portray the fact that black is beautiful; it is such a beautiful and essential color in our world. When observing this piece, I asked myself the question, if some white people are so demeaning towards black persons just because their skin is black, why are they not demeaning towards anything else that has black skin? Why do they love and appreciate the beauty of a black panther, but not that of black persons?”. This is the question I asked myself, and I found it to be so true and so widespread in our society. The words and phrases surrounding the piece go along with this – words such as “black bird, black bear, black tie, and blackboard”. So many essential and beautiful things in our world have black skin too, but why is it only black persons whom some white people discriminate against? Why do they discriminate simply because of skin color? It is a question I cannot find the answer to, but that Margi Weir hopes to bring insight to with this piece.
On the contrary, there stands her piece, White Privilege. In this piece, there sits an icon of the White House at the top, with white owls perched atop it and an icon of a white star and white moon above. Below the White House, a laundry line with all white clothes is hanging from it with the words “WHITE WASH” written right above it. Below that, a white picket fence, six white Knight chess pieces, eight pieces of white bread, and, at the very bottom, the words “WHITE PRIVILEGE”. Like the words in the work Black Is, words and phrases containing the word “white” act as a border in this piece (for example: white wash, white diamonds, white noise, etc.). Acting as a border around these words is a row of icons of light bulbs and lightning bolts. This piece portrays the fact that white persons have been deemed to have dominion over the world, over black persons, and each of these little icons and symbols represent that in some way. Is it not ironic that the most powerful and important building in all the nation is all white and even called the White House? Another example would be the Knight chess pieces. In the game of chess, the Knight is the piece with the most detail and beauty, and it allows for the most variety in different moves that can be made in the game. These pieces are only two of many works within this exhibition that portray issues within our society. All of her works include both literal representations and icons of her ideas and more obscure meanings and symbols to signify these important, but negative issues.
This exhibition really hits its viewers hard and makes you stop and think twice about our world and the events going on within it. Sure, we hear about these issues on the news and from social media sites, but do we actually pay attention and act on these issues? Do we actually understand that these issues are unfolding, not only hundreds of miles away in cities we have never even been to, but in places so very close to our own homes? Does it not bother us as a society and as a nation that there is so much violence and negativity going on around us every single day? As I am sure Margi Weir wants us all to realize…it is time to wake up, America, and realize that not everything is rainbows and butterflies in these “united” states.