EVENTS
ANCESTRY + LEGACY AT HIGHFIELD HALL
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY JULIA CUMES
Highfield Hall’s new exhibit, Ancestry + Legacy, is a meditation on how past, present, and future are inextricably intertwined. Artists in the show contemplate how their own unique ancestries influence both their present lives and future legacies. “The subject of ancestry is a natural inspiration for artists working in a wide variety of media from painting, drawing, and sculpture to ceramics and photography,” says curator and artist, John Moore, who conceived of the exhibit and who posed a series of challenging questions to artists to respond to. “The purpose of this exhibition is to facilitate a dialog with the artists and audience engaging in a process with these ideas through the power of questioning,” Moore explains. The exhibit is on view at Highfield Hall, September 2 through October 31, 2020. For hours and information, please visit highfieldhallandgardens.org.
John Cira’s sculptural piece, Thinker, is made partially from a former department store manikin while the figure’s head is made out of pasta. “My intent was for the piece—and the head in particular—to symbolize the distress and confusion that we are currently going through,” he says. Artist Jackie Reeves straightens her work, Onward and Upward. “This painting is based off of a photograph that my mother took when she was in her camping days as a young person in the 1950s, and I’ve used the photograph as a reference but altered certain elements with paint to give it timeless relevance,” Reeves explains.
Artist Richard Neal’s piece, Fables of the Reconstruction, explores the way in which history has been passed on. “I painted all the books white to represent the white-washing of history,” Neal explains while carefully arranging his installation’s many pieces. 10 » capecodandtheislandsmag.com
