Sibley Barlow:
Skin Box
The body defines human experience, and we can never know life without its limitations. We reside within these objects like traveling homes, washing them, straining them, and living through time. Despite this inseparability, our experience of time is varied between the body and self. We are witness to a change that we are not entirely a part of, allowing us a multi-layered experience of time. Through this series of works on paper, I explore skin as metaphor for the temporality of human experience.
Gay/Trans Flag Box
This sculpture was made in effort to disrupt an icon of American patriotism; an icon that celebrates and legitimizes the military imperialism that is responsible for the (often illegal) occupation of nearly 150 countries. The removal of the national flag and placing of flags of a more organic and peaceful community not only indicates the death of lgbtq individuals, but agitates this reverence for violent dominance. Seemingly two entirely separate issues, I implore the viewer to think about the intersection between them, and to acknowledge the rotten root from which they grow.
Updated Rainbow Flag, Remade
This flag was not made with a great deal of planning, or with any sort of intention of art making either. Philadelphia updated their rainbow flag with the addition of a black and brown stripe in 2017. I was simply excited about it, and after getting one, began crafting with nothing particular in mind. What came forward was a pleasant surprise, with the kind of deeply personal attachment I imagine someone gets when they create a quilt.
Nuveen Barwari:
If you take a root of a fig tree from Kurdistan and plant it in the US, is it the same fig tree? Do the figs taste the same? The water is different, the soil is different, the environment is different but the roots are still from that same fig tree from Kurdistan. How does the water, soil, and environment affect the growth of this fig tree?
How does one’s roots grow stronger in a land that isn’t theirs?
Theory: If you take a root of a fig tree from Kurdistan and plant it in the US, it is not the same fig tree.
I got this idea in 2019 when I asked my father about a particular rose bush in his garden. I asked him, “why do these smell so good and the other roses have very little to zero scent?” He told me that he cut a branch off of a rose bush from this Kurdish man’s garden when he was visiting his sister in Canada one year. That Kurdish man in Canada cut his branch off of a rose bush in Kurdistan. He explained to me that you can replant rose bushes by cutting off a single branch. At that very moment I took deeper breaths when I was smelling these roses because I felt like I was closer to Kurdistan. I felt like I had a piece of Kurdistan in my hands. I am interested in all the various ways we can apply the fig tree theory to my fine art practice.
Duncan McDaniel:
Across the Clouds
A tin can or “lovers” telephone is a centuries old device using two tin cans attached to either end of a taut string or wire. This allows individuals to communicate over short distances using acoustic vibrations. I met my wife when she temporarily traveled to Nashville from England to install a light based art exhibit. After eight weeks of an illuminated blissful romance she sadly had to return to England. We spent months apart but maintained a relationship via video chat, talking for hours as if I was actually there. During the long periods of separation I was so thankful to live in a world with the internet acting as a thread connecting us across continents. This sculpture is based on the experience of having a digital relationship with someone I could not occupy a physical space with but still managed to make a meaningful connection in spite of that fact.
