By: Maria Carbonell
The Annette Howell Turner Center of the Arts in Valdosta, Georgia, is hosting the “She Said, She Said, She Said” exhibition. This exhibition, described as A Collage Collective, is hosted in the Josette’s Gallery and contains multiple artworks that go from collages to mixed media to short movies. The artists featured in this exhibition are Evelyn Davis-Walker, Amy Tingle, and Julie Graves Krishnaswami.
The layout of Josette’s Gallery makes it easy for the viewer to walk around and get acquainted with each piece. Whenever attending a gallery, it is extremely important to designate a space with the right lighting, size, and approachability to give the viewer all the means to interact with the piece and really get a feel of it. One needs to be able to walk around and get closer or further back to really review the artwork displayed. In the case of the Josette’s Gallery, one is encountered is a relatively small room located at the back of the Annette Howell Turner Center of the Arts. The gallery can just hold a small number of artworks, depending on their sizes, but still has space for the viewer to move around to their liking and get to know each piece. At first, one is welcomed with a display pedestal of such exhibition’s flyer containing all the information of the artists and their artworks to help as a guide throughout the whole exhibition. Due to this gallery being a room, one could easily go wall by wall until completing the whole circuit. The gallery was dimly lit, and each artwork had a set of lights pointing at it to capture every detail. As always, the white walls help the space feel more open and help the eye to just focus on the color, shape, and silhouette of the artworks in display.
“She Said, She Said, She Said” is a collective of collage work, sculpture, fiber/textile, video, multimedia and interactive installations that pushes one to use their senses to better interact with the exhibition. Through touch, hearing, and sight, the three female artists try to “heal trauma, mend fractured relationships, and soothe ancestral heartache” (Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts). Most of the pieces demand some sort of interaction to get the full experience out of it. This exhibition very strongly portrays the role of women in society, and how their interaction with the world affects them mentally, physically, and psychologically. Hence the importance of the hands-on viewer experience to get a feel of a how it is to be a woman nowadays. One can sense a relation between the works, especially in Davis-Walker’s style, with the repetition of the 60s housewife, the polka dots, bright color, and vintage look. The three artists did not hold back when adding a feminine touch to their works. The bright colors of Tingle’s interactive doors and overall style would fall in the category of feminine. Also, Tingle’s jackets give a chic and stylish feel, not typical of something that would be classified as macho. The three artists brought forward some of the stereotypes of being a woman through the femininity and pink tones and merged them with a not so pleasant reality which is explained through their inspiration.
The first artwork one encounters is Tingle’s colorful doors, classified as mixed media assemblage, that immediately draws you into them as you feel the need to know what is behind each door. This mini-series named “Mend my life!” consists of twelve small compartments. Every door is themed differently, with their respective doorknobs, motif, and name. Before you start looking into each door there is a little caption stating “This artwork may be gently touched. Please steady work with one hand while sliding the door with the other hand.” By grabbing the doorknob with your dominant hand and resting your other hand at the bottom of it, the door awkwardly slides upwards, revealing the intricate and delicate drawing hidden inside. Every room has a woman with a 60s fashion sense drawn and colored-in with a marker on what appears to be a thin-clear polyester sheet. Some lay on top or sit beside a fiber/textile miniature rug, and embroidered to the back, which seems to be a canvas covered with colorful fabric, is a quote. Tingle plays with multiple colors in all her work, and strictly decides not to be repetitive with the motifs.
Tingle paid special detail to each woman, showing that such doors are not a single-continuous story of one individual, but instead, a collection of multiple different stories of different people’s lives. She included different races, messages, and a unique animal head to convey the message. The embroidered quotes they contain are repeated in a couple of the compartments such as: “Mend my life,” “Save the only life you can save,” “You knew what you had to do,” “The stars began to burn,” and “There was a new voice,” but the title of each work is unique. Also, each female’s head is replaced by an animal’s head, whether it is a peacock, unicorn, pigeon, cat, deer, fox, rabbit, grizzly bear, hummingbird, or elephant, and the only head that appears multiple times is the unicorn one. Tingle describes such figures as guardians of the stories. These “mythical creatures — half-woman half-animal…” were made to represent the stories of women all-around, and the different animal faces bring originality and part of the women’s personality out (Amy Tingle). From Tingle’s work I can create my conclusion that whether one is brave like a bear, beautiful like a peacock, or intelligent like an elephant, one still shares similar experiences with other women that unite us.
Amy Tingle’s “Mend my life!” is inspired by a sense of therapy and self-investigation. Tingle even categorizes her work as a “strange diary,” where every doorway symbolizes the change and endurance that one develops during a traumatic event in one’s life. The chaos of change was represented through collages and assemblage of mixed media. The half-woman half-animal, and even the borrowed tradition of embroidery taught by her own grandmother, show a personal connection between her life and symbolic struggles of somebody else’s journey. By using doors, Tingle wanted to allude to both endings and new beginnings, “moving through difficulties or challenges, entering into new spaces and opportunities, leaving sadness, loss, a broken heart – doors and openings provide the transition point to change” (Amy Tingle). Her inspiration came from an intensive therapy that she went through 15 years ago, where the therapist presented to Tingle a system where she would create an “imaginary container with a door [she] could close on the raw, difficult emotional territory… covered during [her] sessions” (Amy Tingle).
This doorway later evolved into a collaboration. With the power of social media, Tingle asked women who had experienced any kind of trauma to send her a single word that she could represent through the five senses. Those words would later evolve into personalized doorways that would represent that word, but at the same time serve as a safeguard, where they could be stored, and one could decide whether to keep them private or make them public by opening the door. I would argue that this was one of the best artworks of this exhibition. The time and detail that went into the personalization of each door, and the connection that this has to her fanbase, make this work strong and meaningful. “Mend my life!” unites us and offers us the ability of sharing one’s trauma with others. It helps by showing the audience that everybody deals with things and they are not alone, especially the female community that has faced rejection, abuse, neglect and gaslighting. It not only sheds a light on these issues, but also helps us interact with them by deciding to open a door that was previously closed. This offers women the opportunity of letting one’s demons out and having the power to decide when and where you are ready to make them public. That is the power of art and expression and Tingle successfully managed all of this in an eloquent and beautiful way.
Next to “Mend my life!” is Evelyn Davis-Walker’s short film Emily Post’s Etiquette Recipe, playing on a monitor parallel to the entrance of the Josette’s gallery. This work is described as “a metaphorical recipe based on societal expectations placed on the housewife through stop-motion collage inspired by American etiquette author Emily Post” (Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts). Emily Post’s Etiquette Recipe starts with a bowl, where she puts in every aspect of the 60s housewife, who is the main character of the piece, and mixes it all together. This piece connects the “role” of the woman who is supposed to be in the kitchen with her daily life interactions and chores. Davis-Walker creates a typical life that would be considered the ordinary picket fence family: three children, two and a half neighbors to impress, six rooms to clean, one husband to please, four glasses of wine and a few seconds to herself before the kids return home from school. It all goes into the bowl of the housewife’s life, her itinerary for the day. This short-continuous loop talks about how every house has an outward appearance to make it as presentable as possible, as well as an interior intimately set to keep the problems and stresses out of the public eye. The idea of making the stop motion into a continuous loop not only allows future viewers to see the piece, but it also has a deeper meaning that connects to the whole idea of how the life of such women go. This piece is not entertainment but a glimpse to reality. It shows how the role that housewives have, which can be considered a full-time job, is repetitive, continuous, and exhausting, with little to no remuneration, just misogynistic comments and dirty looks.
Evelyn Davis-Walker “has a strong affinity for all things paper — from mixed media collage, to creating typographical prints on her letterpress machines.” (Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts). One can sense her ability with collages and mixed media as she made every figurine herself in order to come up with this stop motion video. Through her mixed media and typographical prints, Davis-Walker manages to capture a conservative and misogynistic lifestyle of a housewife. Even though this film is inspired by a 60s style and fashion sense, it is not completely alien to today’s generation, where women still face sexism in the way of unfair wages, commodities, opportunities and much more. Today’s sexism prevents women from showing their true colors without being neglected, stepped on, or mocked. This work creates a sense of connection between women all around the world that have faced such injustice, which at the end of the day would go hand in hand with Davis-Walker’s primary goal to connect with people as an artist and designer. Personally, I would consider this a creative method of art and expression, where through the use of both kinesthetic labor and technology-oriented film, Davis-Walker manages to combine two-dimensional media with a more modern approach which would be technology.
On one hand, while Davis-Walker combined her mixed media and collages with her affinity with graphic design, Tingle focused more on three-dimensional and interactive design. Both used the audience’s interaction with the piece differently but managed to keep the idea of feminism. While Tingle focused on personal stories as a sort of catharsis to expel past traumas, Walker focused more on highlighting the main problem in a misogynistic society. Walker decided to focus on how the day-to-day life of a housewife may look like. She focuses on what is believed to be the women’s “role” in society, and in a way raises awareness to the amount of time that a housewife spends getting the house clean, the kids ready, and even the husband’s stomach full. She brings awareness to misogynistic belief of the “housewife’s role” and shows how this is just like any other “9 to 6 job” but without the praises and remuneration that it deserves.
Amy Tingle also had other works displayed in the form of men’s thrifted jackets that “have been collaged with images cut from other pieces of collected clothing and embellished with quotes.” (Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts). There were three jackets in total: Fear is the path to the dark side,” “Obey your heart,” and “Wrestle the world from fools.” Sadly, Krishnaswami’s work was not available to review. It consisted of an installation/performance about the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. According to Meg Anderson, a reporter from NPR.org, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor at Palo Alto University, accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were both attending suburban Maryland high school in the 1980s (NPR.org). Even though the video was not playing, one could still interact with the installation that consisted of a vintage chair and desk, where one could sit and write on the yellow notepad what could be drawn from the testimony. The notes were left there so one could still interact with what people had written down and compare their point of view.
“She Said, She Said, She Said” was a well-rounded exhibition with a variety of works from talented artists who used their personal sense of feminism as a way to bring a community together that shares a common background. This exhibition focuses on female empowerment and the whole spectrum that comes with being a woman. Davis-Walker, Tingle, and Krishnaswami are calling to all women to support each other, whether it is from overcoming past traumas, sharing and relating with another woman’s story, or simply appreciating all the hard work that happens inside a house. Feminism is about equal rights and opportunities; it is about not bringing others down due to misconceptions; it is about knowing one’s worth and standing up against oppression; it is about overcoming any traumatic experiences, tackling the root of the problem, and supporting others who may be dealing with the same issue. This exhibition highlights women’s power through femininity, colors, and different media that involve one interacting with them to bring the audience closer and create a sense of belonging.
Bibliography
Amy Tingle. https://www.amytingle.com/.
Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts. Exhibitions. https://turnercenter.org/exhibitions/.
Anderson, Meg. “Who Is Christine Blasey Ford, The Woman Accusing Brett Kavanaugh Of Sexual Assault?” NPR. https://www.npr.org/2018/09/17/648803684/who-is-christine-blasey-ford-the-woman-accusing-brett-kavanaugh-of-sexual-assaul.
Illustration Page
Small wood compartment of about 4″x8″. A yellow fabric covers the base of the compartment and at the bottom left corner is a miniature textile rug in the shape of a rectangle with a floral pattern. On top of the miniature rug is a woman with a deer head. The figure is wearing a pink dress, gray trench coat, white tights and brown boots. At the right side of the figure is embroidered a quote that states “the stars began to burn.” The compartment is closed by a black door with a gold doorknob, stars and fire that starts from the bottom of the door to the middle. The doorknob is located in the middle of the door and the stars are scattered at the top part.
Small wood compartment of about 4″x8″. A red fabric covers the base of the compartment and in the middle, slightly to the left, is miniature textile rug in the shape of a rectangle with a “groovy” pattern. On top of the miniature rug is a woman with a unicorn head. The figure is wearing an old fashioned under ware, most likely form the 60s. The figure has a red bra and short trousers with black polka dots and what looks to be black ballerina shoes. At the right side of the figure is embroidered a quote that states “there was a new voice.” The compartment is closed by a dark blue door with a gold doorknob, and sky blue rectangles painted over the door’s decorative dents. The doorknob is located in the middle and a few gold brushstrokes are seen throughout the door.
Maria Carbonell is a sophomore student at Valdosta State University majoring in Studio Art. After graduating Carbonell plans to pursue a career in product design.