Deborah Kass , (American, b. 1952) , Triple Ghost Yentl (My Elvis), 1997, Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas, 72 x 64 in., The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art at Rollins College, Gift of Barbara ’68 and Theodore ’68 Alfond, 2013.34.91. © Deborah Kass / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York
The Rollins Museum of Art has a new exhibit that showcases “the unique experiences of female, transgender, and gender non-conforming artists by addressing issues such as racial and gender identity, sexuality, discrimination and violence.”
“In Our Eyes: Women’s, Nonbinary, and Transgender Perspectives from the Collection,” which opened Jan. 14, features various medias of work, all created by female, nonbinary or transgender artists.
“This exhibit, it’s meaningful in a lot of different ways. One of them is the duty we have as museum institutions in our current climate to showcase different perspectives in our exhibitions,” RMA curator Gisela Carbonell says.
“In Our Eyes” is a result of a collaboration between the museum and Rollins’ museum practicum capstone students. The capstone students worked together with Carbonell to develop the theme and select each piece included in the exhibition.
“They were very interested in working mostly with contemporary artists and so we narrowed down the checklist that way. And then as the process developed, they were very interested in including not only women artists, but also nonbinary and transgender artists in the collection,” Carbonell says.
Elinor Carucci, a photographer whose work is on display in “In Our Eyes,” says she originally explored her love for photography by taking photos of the women in her family.
“I just couldn’t stop photographing my mom, and then my cousin, Natalie, and then my grandma and my aunt and I was like, why am I focusing on the women of the family?” she says regarding her entry into photography. “Eventually, while looking at my work, I realized I’m actually talking about women’s identity.”
Carucci used photography as a tool to understand femininity and the relationships between the women in her family. Her work represents womanhood and all of the complicated relationships that come along with it.
“I was photographing myself, who was 16, 17, my mom who was in her 30s, my grandma who was in her 60s and 70s. I’m talking about different ages of experiencing womanhood and the bond, but also the fights and the tension and the hatred, even, at times, and talking about all of that and it kind of set the tone,” she says.
Similarly, nonbinary photographer Jess T. Dugan has used photography as a way to understand and share the relationships around them.
“My work, at its core, is really about identity, and how we come to understand ourselves and really how we come to understand ourselves through relationships with other people,” Dugan says.
Their photograph titled “Betsy” is on display in the exhibition. The photograph is from a previous body of work of theirs, “Every Breath We Drew,” that explored the needs for both personal identity and a connection with others.
“This picture of Betsy was made in her home in Chicago. She’s resting on her kitchen counter. I’m really interested in people in their own homes and personal spaces, and what kind of intimacy that conveys. I’m also interested in a combination of strength and vulnerability,” Dugan says. “I feel like I see that in Betsy’s photograph. There’s a kind of strength and an owning of her identity and who she is, but there’s also a kind of openness and vulnerability in the way she’s standing and the way she’s presenting herself to the camera.”
Carbonell was eager to share the 26-piece exhibit because the artists behind the pieces have been traditionally underrepresented in the art world.
“There’s such diversity in terms of materias. We have sculptures, we have paintings, we have prints, we have photography, we even have a garment, we have a beaded work. There are a lot of different types of works that address very different themes and topics,” Carbonell says.
A 360-degree virtual view of the exhibition is available on the museum’s website. The exhibition is open through Aug. 27. Entry into the museum, and to the exhibition, is free to everyone. For more information, visit Rollins.edu.
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