ILLINOIS
INDIANA
MICHIGAN
MINNESOTA
MISSOURI
OHIO
WISCONSIN
OCTOBER 1976 / 60¢
Page 14
CHICAGO / ARTEMISIA GALLERY
Self-Portraits by Edward M. Uzemack
Artemisia’s newly expanded gallery opened Friday, September 17 at 9 West Hubbard. It will serve as a focal point and resource center for all artists while placing special emphasis on the woman in art. Artemisia’s purpose is to encourage discourse amongst artists of all disciplines and to promote a diversified selection of artwork. In keeping with this purpose, a new space has been introduced that will be devoted entirely to photography and its expansion as a major art form.
The inaugural photo exhibit is Self-Portraits, a group exhibition of the work of Artemisia Co-Op members Mary Baber, Patty Carroll, Carole Hormel, Lialia Kuchma, Esther Parada, Carol Turchan, and Jane Wenger. As I viewed the show, I became acutely aware of the joy, anger, and fear that form the core of the female experience.
Carole Hormel’s images, for instance, lead us serially through the female anatomy and as we are confronted with armpits, breasts, and the vaginal area, these parts are transformed into what appears to be rocks through the usage of loaves of bread. This visual catharsis is a symbolic representation of the burdens placed on a woman by her femininity and the female stereotype of our male-oriented society. Further evidence of this position is found in the work of Jane Wenger. A visual dichotomy is created as Wenger places huge megalithic forms, which are the female body, within the space of small and extremely precious photographs. The Magritte-like relationship, achieved by placing an excessively large object in an exceptionally small space, is so intense that these images become terrifying and claustrophobic. The intensely stifling ambiance of this work accurately mimics the atmosphere created for women by our social structure. Society places so much emphasis on the preciousness of a woman and the overwhelming importance of her body that it destroys any space for her personal growth that may exist.
Carol Turchan and Mary Baber present images concerned with sexual phobias and family ties, while Lialia Kuchma’s work is so introspective that it becomes impossible for the viewer to interpret. Patty Carroll’s work is unique. Rather than turning her camera inward to create her portrait, as was done by the other photographers in the show, she looks for herself in the world around her. Carroll’s six images, though specially flat and tightly composed, exhibit an illusion of depth created by the inclusion of a large amount of detail. The subjects are photographed from behind and centered in the picture. Carroll’s shadow enters the image on a diagonal from the lower left and represents that part of her found in each picture. Esther Parada offers us two pieces which are photographs on fabric. She uses bright hues of blue, red, green, and yellow to portray her joyous involvement with her child. The use of a piece of movie film as one of the images and its repetitious imagery suggest that this celebration will continue indefinitely.
While much of the work presented is either introspective or originates from a feminist point of view, the divergent nature of the imagery and the lightness of the photographs of Parada and Carroll prevent the exhibit from becoming a bombast of feminist doctrine. Instead, the exhibit becomes an experience of female awareness. Accompanying the photo exhibit is a series of paper sculptures by Alice Shaddle and Joy Poe’s luminescent string installation piece. The Poe piece and the happening which it is part of, only takes place on certain days, and it would be advisable to call the gallery to find out when it will occur.
Self-Portraits – A Group Show and Works by Joy Poe and Alice Shaddle continues through October 10 at Artemisia, 9 West Hubbard St., Chicago, Illinois.