In conjunction with the exhibit “A Complex Weave: Women and Identity in Contemporary Art,” currently on display in the Carleton College Perlman Teaching Museum, featured artist Zoe Charlton will appear on Monday, Feb. 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the Weitz Center for Creativity Cinema. On display in the museum’s Braucher Gallery through March 11, the exhibit looks at the ongoing vitality of the feminist movement in art with works by contemporary female artists of varied backgrounds. The reception is free and open to the public.
A Baltimore-based African-American artist, Charlton will speak about her provocative and beautiful figure drawings in the context of race, class and gender issues. Initially drawn to the nude as devoid of socially determined markers, Charlton soon used the nude to explore notions of “passing” for membership in another group by adopting specific accessories and postures.
“A Complex Weave” explores ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation and other aspects of identity through drawing, painting, sculpture, needlework and photography. In addition to Charleton, other contemporary artists whose work is featured in the exhibition include Blanka Amezkua, Sarah Amos, Helene Aylon, Siona Benjamin, Sonya Clark, Annet Couwenberg, Lalla A. Essaydi, Judy Gelles, Sharon Harper, Julie Harris, Fujiko Isomura, Tatiana Parcero, Philemona Williamson, April Wood, and Flo Oy Wong. The exhibition seeks to reaffirm the strength of feminism in a new century in which issues of personal identities seem increasingly intricate and critical.
The exhibition is divided into five thematic sections. In “Images and Text (Superimpositions),” Aylon, Essaydi and Parcero seek to deconstruct standard conventions of gender through a mixture of images and texts. In “Complex Geographies (Hybrids),” Benjamin, Amos and Isomura draw on their varied experiences as immigrants to the United States to create complex images of modern female identity. In “The Female Body (Pushing the Boundaries),” Charlton, Harper and Amezkua engage the controversial and multifaceted image of the female form. In “Childhood and Family (Relationships),” Gelles, Wong and Williamson explore issues of heritage and history. And in “Accessories (Clothing and Related Objects),” Couwenberg, Clark, Harris and Wood invoke the female body and female experience through personal objects rendered with unexpected and eloquent materials.
This event is co-sponsored by the Christopher U. Light Lectureship in the Arts. For more information, including disability accommodations, contact Laurel Bradley at (507) 222-4342 or visit online at https://apps.carleton.edu/museum/. The Weitz Center for Creativity is located at 320 Third Street East in Northfield. Hours for the Perlman Teaching Museum are: Monday-Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursday-Friday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Saturday-Sunday, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Enter the Perlman Teaching Museum, Weitz Center for Creativity, at Third and College Streets.