EMBODY – Virtual Exhibition

Southern New Hampshire University

January 18th – May 18th, 2021

Didier William, I see you, we all see you, 2017, photo polymer print, 13 x 8 1/8 inches, Union College Permanent Collection, 2018.1.3 UCPC, © Didier William

The McIninch Art Gallery at Southern New Hampshire University is proud to present the virtual exhibition of EMBODY. This exhibition originated at the Mandeville Gallery, Union College, from August 24, 2019, to January 19, 2020. Support for this virtual exhibition and its accompanying digital catalog comes from the Samuel P. Hunt Foundation.

“EMBODY features contemporary artists of diaspora applying collage, both conceptually, and in some cases, literally, as a technique to construct identity and/or selfhood within the mode of portraiture or figuration in the visual arts. Artists in the exhibition include Firelei Báez, Amir H. Fallah, Chitra Ganesh, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Simonette Quamina, Stacey Robinson, David Shrobe, aricoco (Ari Tabei), Didier William, and Saya Woolfalk.

Each artist practices a different approach to realizing identity through representation of the body and creating a plurality of existences within the subject. These figures embody resistance, defying and challenging a one-dimensional reading of who the figures might be, or what they represent.

The way these figures are made can be seen as acts of opposition to stereotyping. They resist a narrow interpretation of the figures as constructs. Each image is built to give agency and range to the life of experience the subject has lived.”

– Julie Lohnes, Director & Curator of Art Collections & Exhibitions

Virtual Panel Discussion: Join the McIninch Art Gallery at SNHU for a Panel Discussion on February 3rd, 2021, as our panelists address identity through the representation of the body and the creation of a plurality of existences within the subject. We will discuss resistance to stereotyping, defying, and challenging a one-dimensional reading of who the figures pictured in the artworks might be. To register for this event, click on the Virtual Panel Discussion in the right-hand side-bar.

Panelists: Julie Lohnes, Director and Curator of the Exhibition, Mandeville Gallery, Union College; Debbie Disston, Director, The McIninch Art Gallery, SNHU; Stacey Robinson, EMBODY exhibiting artist, professor, graphic designer, and novelist; Jonathan Wesley, Senior Director of Equity and Inclusion, SNHU.

To tour the Virtual Exhibition click here.

To view the Digital Catalogue click here.