An Inner Meaning; Almost Expressed

“I am interested in the shift between how a woman is seen and how she sees herself. This tension that arises between internal and external constructs of female identity is an undercurrent that continues to shape my work. My concern with the psychological realities associated with abuses of power, sexual assault, harassment, and/or daily forms of systemic silencing led me to begin research on Virginia Woolf’s life and writings. I have come to recognize, through repeated readings of her novel Mrs. Dalloway, a pervading silence that had come to define me.

An Inner Meaning; Almost Expressed tells the story of my process for finding voice later in life, referencing autobiographical moments of marginalization or hope, musings of worth, vulnerability and power, and rhythmic patterns of self-reflection. I experience natural oscillations of longing and withdrawal. Inside these essential moments, I am exploring the dynamic between ideas of intimacy and a perpetual distancing from myself. Here, where I feel both need and needed, I rely upon a veneer of vulnerability and conventionality as a purposeful appliqué in protecting my privacy. Sexuality and strength emerge only outside a framework of prescribed behaviors oftentimes designed to empower others.

The use of pink allows me to flow in and out of public and private female sensibilities and to connect a chronology of moments into a sequence dictated by impact. The color itself hinting at a presence, attaching and recoiling from an implied cast of others. I also look to the physics of waves, a motif in Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, as a metaphorical foundation for my image-making. Waves ascribe to the patterning of emotional fluctuation and the perpetuity of endurance. I am constructing a rhythm, like waves, like breath for the act of being a woman.” –Stephanie Taiber

Exhibition Dates: May 22 – June 20, 2020
Closing Reception: June 19, 2020
Location: Filter Space | 1821 W. Hubbard St., Suite 207
Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday | 11 AM – 5 PM, Saturday 12 - 4 PM *by appointment only    

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