Social Recession – 2021 NCECA Annual

Social Recession – 2021 NCECA Annual
Hosted by the Weston Art Gallery, the 2021 NCECA Annual, Social Recession, curated by Shannon Rae Stratton, blends attributes of invitational and open juried models of exhibition development. Stratton’s vision was initiated with six invited artists with works installed at Visual Arts Center of Richmond. Themes, issues, and sensibilities of her thesis deepen and expand from the exhibition’s core with works selected through an open call for submissions.

About the exhibition, Stratton writes…
According to physician Vivek H. Murthy and Alice Chen’s March article for the Atlantic, the coronavirus could cause what is being called a “social recession.” They speak about how the longer we go without personal contact, the more social bonds fray and unravel, leading to harmful effects on mood, health, our ability to learn and work, and our overall sense of community. Their concern stems from an already growing body of national and global research on the epidemic of loneliness that reports, at the lowest 22% of American adults, and at the highest 50%, are struggling with loneliness. That is more adults than smoke or have diabetes.

Many artists working in craft value the field for its history of peer-to-peer exchange, mentorship, functionality, and proximity to the body. It’s a field that identifies itself with connection and touch, with craft objects – whether functional design or conceptual art – often serving social functions. While Murthy and Chen were concerned with fraying social bonds based on enforced separation, the legacy of settler colonialism and white suprematism that has shaped capitalism, Western culture, and specifically the United States, has long disrupted social bonds, destroying communities, histories, and traditions in its wake.

Japheth Asiedu-Kwarteng, Jamie Bates Slone, Amy Bernard, Ashwini Bhat, Shannon Blakey, Jonathan Christensen Caballero, Andrea Connell, Connor Czora, Louise Deroualle, Emily Duke, Ana England, Sean Erwin, Marisa Finos, Rebecca Harvey, Sin-ying Ho, David Hollander, Drew Ippoliti, Qwist Joseph, Lauren Kalman, Marina Kuchinski, Tiffany Leach, Dianne Lee with Robyn LeRoy-Evans, Clay Leonard, Layla Marcelle with Jacob Raeder, Liz McCarthy, Kelly O’Briant, Ashan Pridgon, Kate Roberts, Kathryn Schroeder, Lauren Skelly Bailey, Elisabeth Wainwright, Jo Watko, Flor Widmar, Adam Yungbluth, Xia Zhang. Invited Artists: Manal Kara, Heidi Lau, Anna Mayer, Erin Jane Nelson, and Nicole Seisler with Georgie Flood. Curated by Shannon Rae Stratton.

Weston Art Gallery, Aronoff Center for the Arts 650 Walnut St., Cincinnati, OH (www.westonartgallery.com)

Source: WatchNCECA