Last night my friend Kim and I attended a panel discussion and exhibition reception for “A Gender Line: A Multidisciplinary Show of Female Artists and Writers” at the Richardson Family Art Gallery at Wofford College, in Spartanburg. It was my first time on campus (lovely) and the Art Gallery is a beautiful space. It was such a pleasure to meet these artists and writers, and to hear them discuss their work. All of the women are South Carolina residents, some born and raised, others that have moved here from other places. All of the women were children of immigrants, or immigrants themselves, and their stories of navigating those identities as they think about their gender identity across cultures was really moving.
Diana Farfán Valente, acclaimed ceramicist and teacher in the Studio Art major at Wofford, organized the exhibition with Spanish professor Dr. Begoña Caballero-García, and I really appreciated their collective approach to organizing the exhibit and the event. The atmosphere was so welcoming, and the room was packed, no doubt due to the expert community-building on the part of the organizers. The South Carolina Centro Latino was a co-sponsor, and the materials in the program and in the exhibit were in both English and Spanish. Diana shared how she always translates for her Colombian mother when they attend art exhibits, and I loved how having the materials in multiple languages invites more people into the art world.
The poets (Gloria Bayne, Jammie Ryan-Huynh, Jennifer Oladipo, Glenis Redmond and Hannah Suarez) all shared works speaking to gender identity, relationships with mothers and grandmothers, connections to the family, rejecting expectations of perfection, and finding their voices and place in the world. It was especially moving to hear Ryan-Huynh speak about the abuse her mother suffered at the hands of her father, and to read her poem “My Mother’s Death Will End the World.” I teared up listening to her say she wished her mother could know herself as Ryan-Huynh knows her, that she wished she could give her mother back to herself. I bought a copy of her book Out of Darkness, and highly recommend. Here’s a link to the digital program, where you can listen to the poets reading their work.
Diana Farfán Valente, The Creation of Eve 2023.
The visual art was also stunning, with video installations from Yili Fan. We had a wonderful conversation about female robots, and how she thinks AI will center women’s work as the most important as typical men’s work is automated. Diana’s piece “The Creation of Eve” was incredible (I love the way she reimagines Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam,” taking the hands and dismembering them, and so heavy!), and if you have the funds, you should really buy it, or any of her pieces here. Elaine Quave, also a ceramic sculptor, had these wall tiles I can’t stop thinking about. Echoing the female pelvis in Diana’s work (you can see it in the background) she coopts the often-politicized images of the developing human embryo to make patterns on the flower petals.
Elaine Quave, From Flower to Seed (2021).
Continuing themes of motherhood and immigration, Freda Sue’s paintings of chimpanzees pensively standing in for the human family really wrung my mommy heartstrings, thinking of what we are willing to do and endure for the sake of our children. Nina Rastgartalab Abtabrizi’s video installations also thinks through the idea of home, and her rendering of a bride as a doll speaks to the objectification and dehumanization of women.
Freda Sue, A Mother’s Love and Unspoken Resilience (2023).
Highly recommend you make a trip to Wofford to see the exhibit, now through December. Hats off to the organizers, artists and writers for this true community-building event centering the lives and experiences of women in South Carolina.
Quave's piece caught my breath. Wow. This entire exhibit looks amazing.