From Sham to Shame
A Woman’s Perspective on War and Politics
Woman Made Gallery opens its 2007 exhibition schedule with a timely and thought-provoking show, “From Sham to Shame: A Woman’s Perspective on War and Politics”, with artwork by curators Marcia Grubb and Ann Berg and juried works by 35 women.
In recent days, the death toll of U.S. soldiers reached beyond 3,000. The United States has been engaged in the Iraq War longer than its involvement in World War II. As we start a new year and reflect on these facts, we highlight a diverse group of women’s responses to the conflict in Iraq and war in general.
In a powerful landscape entitled Desert, 2006, artist Amy Babinec presents a U.S soldier placed amidst a partially barren landscape that evokes the works of American painter Fairfield Porter. Babinec states, “My current work is influenced by the images from the Iraq War and by Indian 18th-century manuscript painting. The intent of this body of work is to cast the Iraq War in terms of the Ramayana, an ancient Hindu epic about Rama, who represents truth, and his war against illusion.”
With Baghdad Burning, 2006, artist Barbara Bruneau-Cleaver creates a collage of a portrait of a young girl surrounded by text. The edges of the paper and of the portrait appear charred from fire. Here, Bruneau-Cleaver references the burning of the capital of Iraq, the culture destroyed, and the people affected by the disaster. In addition to the painting by Babinec and the collage by Bruneau-Cleaver, other media exhibited include photography, installation, video art, and sculpture.
The exhibition was curated by Marcia Grubb and Ann Berg, whose mixed media installation will be shown
simultaneously at WMG’s lower level space. Their works include the recreation of an Abu Ghraib prison cell and 8 foot long panels of x-rayed trucks and human bodies that were produced by national security companies.
Group show artists include: Amy Babinec, Phylane Norman Becker, Claire Beckett, Barbara Bruneau-Cleaver, Ginger Burrell, Mo Cahill, Christina Canzoneri, Donna Catanzaro and Gail Smuda, Esther Charbit, Mary Christopher, Mary Ellen Croteau, Melanie Deal, Nancy Delman, Nitasha Deogun, Robyn Desposito, Jenn DeWald, Elizabeth Ensz, Andrea Ginsburg, Karen Hanmer, Carrie Hoelzer, Bet Ison, Sari Kadison-Shapiro, Jennifer Kahns, Laurel Lueders, Anne Potter, Karen Rechtschaffen, Lisa Rockford, Carol Ross, Rita Salluzzi, Robin Starbuck, Jere Van Syoc, Michele Thrane, Elise Venia and Alison Williams.
(Banner image: artwork by Amy Babinec)
