Privately Owned is a mixed media solo exhibition, which explores the notion of privately held desires, concealed traumas and internal conflicts, enclosed, confined and detained by our bodies and objects we own within our immediate surroundings. Analyzing domesticity, memory, longing and femininity through sculptural objects, fiber works, video and performance, Privately Owned highlights the inconspicuousness of our inner lives as well as the impossibility of a fully liberated and licentious life. Utilizing found and bought consumer goods and materials, such as furniture parts, fabric, toys, clothing and home goods, juxtaposing them with paint, plaster, papier mache and performative gestures, live and for video, the works in the exhibition occupy the liminal space between kitsch and grotesque, examining power and labor hierarchies. Subverting the male gaze through humor and absurd acts, the exhibition underscores the persistence of patriarchal control of female sexuality, imagination and private domains.
Preview in Art New England
Privately Owned, 2019, clothing, acrylic, plaster, fabric, rope, canvas, furniture, toys, mannequin, frames, found objects, sound, performance. Performers: Lydia Kern, Athena Kafantaris, Navah Shoshanah, Steph-Marie Szenasi, Katya Grokhovsky. Presented by Overnight Projects, Karma Birdhouse Gallery, Burlington, Vermont. Photos courtesy of Renee Greenlee.
Privately Owned, 2019, 18 mins, camera: Meara McGinniss, performers: Lydia Kern, Athena Kafantaris, Navah Shoshanah, Steph-Marie Szenasi, Katya Grokhovsky.