“Twenty-Three Sisters,” which opened Friday at Union South’s gallery 1308 and runs to Sept. 30, is a multimedia art exhibition created by 23 local Madison female artists to discuss the theme of sisterhood. The show specifically focuses on the absence of this relationship, as none of the artists have sisters. In their work, these artists further examine the perception of gender and the idealization of sisterhood, and raise questions about their unique identities and how gender and family history have shaped them.
Various forms of art are utilized in the exhibit, including linocut, ink drawing, print, oil painting, photography, video recording and mixed media. What is most innovative is that artists fuse different media together to create a new form. This is epitomized by “A Half And A Quarter,” a work by artist Naomi Nakazato. It is a stunning piece combining realistic elements of Nakazato’s self-portrait oil painting with bouncing Japanese animation art at the bottom. The portraiture is precise and exquisite.
The profile of characters is delicate, and the colors and patterns of the characters’ cape dresses are so vividly portrayed that two characters look dignified. The painting’s heavy strokes, however, are skillfully balanced by the application of bubbly printed Japanese animation figures. These grotesque, yet familiar characters can only be seen in street art or digital art, giving audience a sense of thrill and the memory of childhood. Nakazato identifies with both Japanese and American heritage.
In “A Half And A Quarter,” she expresses the confusion and ambiguity she feels because of her unique identity; she cannot feel either fully American or fully Japanese. The medieval styled dress in the collection can be understood as a symbol of American heritage, while the bouncing animation prints represent her Japanese identity.
Another eye-catching work is a piece called “Hers, Hers, Hers, Hers,” by Myszka Lewis. The idea and context of this work are just as interesting as its name. The piece is a set of four hand-embroidered towels that hang on a towel rod. The towels are embroidered with the words “strong”, “stubborn”, “competitive” and “independent”.
Lewis’s work has a mystifying power to engage an audience with emotional appeals and make it question the meaning of being a woman in today’s society. Work like this invites the viewer to think about these issues and inspires women to continuously search for the meaning of their own identity.
Everyone should be familiar with the typical flyers that haunt our public spaces, on flyer boards, in libraries and bathroom walls. Angela Richardson will impress you with her interactive work “Wanted: Sister(s),” which converts flyers into artwork. In the flyer, Richardson looks for a big sister to discuss love, relationships, friends, school, career goals, sex, fashion and many other topics with.
She also leaves her contact information on the tabs attached to the bottom of the flyers, many of the taps were torn off by the gallery visitors. This is an innovative and interactive way for artists and audiences to break the boundary between the art world and the real world and build an interdependent relationship. It challenges existing artistic norms and perceptions of sisterhood, complementing the other pieces in the collection.
“Twenty-Three Sisters” opens every day at 7:00 a.m in Union South and runs until Sept. 30.
