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Description
Aposiopesis, a Greek word meaning to become silent, is an exhibition of sculptural objects representing emotions and outcomes from personal experience of childhood sexual abuse. Social issues such as sexual abuse are often sanitized with language that has given up its depth, and words and images are disassociated from their true meaning. Complacency is common as through our silence we collectively consent to the idea that painful social problems are an anomaly. Aposiopesis seeks to show that a response to an art object could promote engagement in a way that makes it easier to engage in dialogue about socially sensitive issues. The exhibition is composed of five human scale sculptural objects representing emotions and outcomes of sexual abuse such as: shame, confusion, silence, helplessness, and traumatic memory that endure long after the physical and mental trauma of abuse has ended. The objects were made with materials that have an association to the personal: clothing, suede, mattress ticking, bedding, and hide. Materials are constructed into forms that help reflect the feelings they are trying to represent. The pieces were displayed on a maze like platform designed to control how the work could be viewed, to create a sense of unease, and to require the viewer to be aware of their body and their movement through the space. Abstracted forms are tempered through the use of referential elements that offer the viewer an opportunity to bring their own associations to the pieces. These forms become the intermediary between the viewer and the language required for meaningful and productive dialogue about this often silenced social issue. By bringing the emotions of this particular human struggle into the realm of the tangible I hope to create an occasion for dialogue and empathy and a forum for understanding the fact that our becoming silent in the face of challenging social issues actually allows them to continue. Aposiopesis was displayed in the University Gallery at San Diego State University from April 11th - April 21st, 2016. Images of this thesis project are on file at the School of Art and Design at San Diego State University.
