Tuesday, January 3, 2017

M,othering


Curated by: Tereza Swanda and Angela Rose Voulgarelis
Featuring work by: Fletcher Boote, Maya Pindyck, Tereza Swanda, Angela Rose Voulgarelis
On View: Thursday January 5 - Saturday February 4, 2017
Gallery Hours:  W-Sat, 12-7pm/ Su, event dependent
Saturday January 14; Reception: 6-8pm, Artist Talk:, 8-9pm
Embroidery Circle: Saturday January 21, 11am-1pm

Cambridge, MA -- Gallery 263 is pleased to present M/othering, a Curatorial Proposal Series exhibition that features recent works by Fletcher Boote, Maya Pindyck, Tereza Swanda, and Angela Rose Voulgarelis. These four artists draw on their experiences of motherhood and childhood in relation to the often-complicated dynamics of family relationships, cultural identity, and positions of privilege. They explore these themes through a range of media, driven by questions about inheritance and systems; What continuity is there, if any, between generations? What gets handed down from mother to child? What gets passed from nation to education, or from education to family structure? What images and stereotypes of mothering tend to spread and reproduce?

All four artists featured in M/othering have attended art workshops for the past twenty years led by South African artists Rose Shakinovsky and Claire Gavronsky, which encourage reflection on the interconnectivity of social, cultural, and familial experiences. Each artist in this exhibition considers the far-reaching impacts and political implications of everyday notions of “othering” and “mothering” in connection to their own lives.

In her audio series “Like Night and Day,” Fletcher Boote explores nuances of domesticity and family through various arrangements of sounds. Recordings from her daily life with young children are the backdrop for compositions which point to the impact of repetition, give relevancy to the unexceptional, and question a hierarchy that qualifies music as one thing and “noise” as an “other.”

In the series “Out of Lezley”, Maya Pindyck’s gouache portraits are an elegy to the black lives lost to police brutality in the United States. Working from a media photograph of Lezley McSpadden taken after her son Mike Brown was killed, she renders visible multiple faces that blend source material, medium, and collective grief. 

Tereza Swanda works with themes of erasure and recognition. In “Spot Light,” embedded portraits of victims of police brutality are slowly revealed as participants wash their hands. Illuminated with light and color, Swanda preserves and displays these cracked, painful images. 

In her paintings and performance-based work, Angela Rose Voulgarelis re-contextualizes notions of “women’s work”. Her paintings are an exploration of the figure in relation to the context of the everyday. In the ongoing project, “Airing Dirty Laundry”, Voulgarelis prompts participation with beginnings of phrases such as “Don’t Be Too…”, or “Not Enough….”, asking visitors to complete the phrase in writing. Voulgarelis then embroiders the responses in public spaces, inviting conversation and exchange.



Please join us on Saturday January 21st from 11am-1pm for an embroidery circle in relation to the “Airing Dirty Laundry” project. Participants will be provided with instructions and materials. Free and appropriate for all ages and sewing skill levels. Youth must be accompanied by an adult. Please RSVP with your interest in attending and the number of guests in your party to: contact@gallery263.com. The date of this event coincides with the Women’s March on Washington D.C. We invite you to join us at Gallery 263 in solidarity.




Gallery 263 looks forward to inviting exchange and dialogue with this powerful exhibition as the first of our Curatorial Proposal Series program in 2017.  We hope to see you at the Reception/Artist Talk on January 14th, or for the Embroidery Circle on January 21st.






Gallery 263 advances the artistic endeavors of makers and performers, while fostering public engagement, enrichment, and exchange. Functioning as a creative nexus, Gallery 263 provides a contemporary voice for the arts in Cambridge and our regional communities. Gallery 263 exhibits are free and open to the public