Gallery Response

 Sydney Epps 

Acts of Resistance 

Professor Cacoilo

February 14^th, 2023 

Gallery Response

         After visiting Danielle Scott’s exhibition “KinFolk” it’s very direct on the work she shows in her art pieces. The book The Art of Activism states “the task of art is to transform what is continuously happening to us to transform all these things into symbols, into music, into something which can last in man's memory.” (pg. 25) Danielle Scott's work is another form of a way for her to connect the African American history. While walking around the whole exhibit a couple of times the two pieces that stood out to me the most were Queen of Angles, 2020 (mixed medium assemblage on vintage ironing board) and MaDear Seamstress, 2022 (mixed medium assemblage with resin). I was so connected to both by the way I saw my childhood through each of them. 

         Starting with “MaDear Seamstress” mixed medium assemblage with resin, Danielle Scott made a point of view of the women looking at us instead of the whole picture. I felt a sense of comfort from it right away, it felt like I knew this woman who was sitting on the porch and as I walked closer to it brought me back to many memories of when I was a little girl. My nana on my mom's side of the family, she would always babysit and sit outside on the porch watching me and my siblings play but I didn’t see her as just my nana I saw her as another mother figure. I found this piece to be symbolic as well. It’s like a woman sitting on her porch protecting her house and protecting the people in front of it just like the way my nana did. 

 I think what also got me to pick this piece was the fabric and clothing that she was wearing. The shirt underneath the dress, my nana would also wear something like that, and she would also have a piece of cloth in her hand while she was sitting out there. The way that the porch is made up of wood but mixed with the paper also gives off another value to the work. 

         The second piece by Danielle Scott I found drawn too was “Queens of Angles” a mixed medium assemblage on a vintage ironing board. This was the first piece I saw when I walked into the exhibit. It caught my eye that it was on an iron board rather than in a square. It screamed differently to me. What I liked about this piece was the people on her blouse. Also, if you look closely at her skirt, you can kind of see a face in it. 

I thought about this piece as myself. It brought me back to me always ironing my sibling’s clothes for school every morning and taking care of them, while still trying to take care of myself as well. The stance gives off a powerful walk, that she is a black powerful woman and I see myself as a powerful black woman after everything I had to go through while growing up. 

How I see the people on her blouse is in a sense of my family on the blouse watching me grow up and become the woman that I am. Seeing them witness the motherly figure I gave to the rest of my siblings when my mom couldn’t since she was always in and out of the hospital with my oldest sibling. On the NJCU galleries Instagram page, there is a video of Danielle Scott talking about this work she states that the spout at the top of the ironing board represents the saying “someone pouring into an empty vessel.” I thought about it in a way as me pouring every ounce of what I had to support my siblings so they can be set and be their best. 

    The book The Art of Activism explains “art allows us to say things that can’t be said, to give form to abstract feelings and ideas and present them in such ways that can be communicated with others.” (pg. 25) It’s a way for us as the viewer to communicate with each and every piece and understand what Danielle did to the work like adding documents, and fabric to it to make it stand out while trying to portray our ancestries and the time period for African Americans. Also, Danielle’s creations gave us the power to interpret those feelings and feel like the work is connecting to us, to interpret how we feel like it’s doing things to us just by observing it. My experience after the exhibit made me feel a sense of power and calmness in a way. Her work spoke to me more than I thought it would. Danielle was able to capture so much history for us as viewers. 

MaDear Seamstress, 2022 (mixed medium assemblage with resin)

                                                            

Queen of Angles, 2020 (mixed medium assemblage on vintage ironing board)

                                     

 

Based off of Queen of Angles  " the poweful walk"