About

STATEMENT

Communication becomes stifled when the topic is sorrow. Gestures shift while contemplating mortality. Rituals are performed while the sky continues on despite us. Fifteen visual artists will show together and address aspects of navigating loss, foregoing the notion that grief is something better hidden away.

I Surrender, Dear, curated by Frances Jakubek, opens July 10th with artists Ben Alper, Justin Aversano, Ben Davis, Nina Weinberg Doran, Catherine Druken, Gregg Evans, Camilla Anne Jerome, Michael Joseph, Molly Lamb, Luis Lazo, Rita Maas, Alyssa Meadows, Yasmeen Melius and Jared Ragland. The exhibition opens at Umbrella Arts Gallery, 317 E. 9th St., New York; through August 4th, 2018 with a reception on Tuesday, July 10th, from 6-8pm.

Utilizing the grid to illustrate compounding emotions, Yasmeen Melius’s presentation is a reminder that loss is evident everywhere when a loss is ever-present in your mind. Suicide prevention is often discussed after a tragedy shocks us. If we made space to talk about this pain we experience, how would this world become a safer space?

Visual examples of the human experience with trauma, loss, and mental health are presented within the exhibition. Luis Lazo reiterates “I WANT TO BE IN THE LIGHT” with this message reappearing in his transient photographs. The images reoccur within the sequence of the exhibition like the constant wondering of what the grass must be like on the other side.

Lazo’s images contrast Catherine Druken shielding the light. We are peering from darkness into Molly Lamb’s abstracted landscapes, allowing the sun to humble us. There is a universal reason why we stare into the clouds; Jared Ragland references Alfred Stieglitz’s “Songs of the Sky” with a year-long series of meditative captures.

The collaborative portraits made by Alyssa Meadows and her sitters deal with the long-term effects of sexual assault. The subjects are photographed anonymously with the option to be exposed in the light. This choice opens the precarious possibility of transforming this truth-telling into a scandal.

Michael Joseph’s project, “Lost and Found” has transformed since its inception. The artist has photographed the Traveler community over the course of ten years and has witnessed growth and lives changing, as well as lives lost. The portraits exhibited are tributes, and memorials of friends passed.

Anhedonia, a depressive disorder that restricts the sensation of pleasure is explored within Camilla Anne Jerome’s self-portraits. Rita Maas and Ben Alper’s images address the fragility of record-keeping and memory. Nina Weinberg Doran’s photograph speaks volumes of vulnerability and our self-image facing mortality. Gregg Evans illustrates the rituals of grieving and our relationship to objects left behind. Justin Aversano strategizes acceptance into daily practice. Ben Davis illustrates a timeline of history and moving forward. 

I Surrender, Dear, is an exhibition that aims to open dialogue of stigmatized issues and encourage openness to let go and surrender to feeling each emotion we are capable of, without shame.