Aug 4 – Oct 2

Opening Reception: Thursday, August 4th from 6-8pm

“These new cut-outs reflect on the nature of friendships, in particular those friendships from which we seek affirmation of our own identities. The mirror stage, as defined by Jacques Lacan, is literally the stage when a baby first recognizes themself in the mirror, but it also extends throughout our lives. Lacan says that the mirror stage creates a duality because the whole-ness of the image in the mirror is in opposition to the fragmentary nature of the self. This creates the ego and alienates the subject from the self.  Many of us became noticeably alienated from ourselves as teenagers when our bodies betrayed us by changing without our permission and we were suddenly asked to identify as a new self. I am interested in the ways that friends become our mirrors, inviting us back to a reality where we feel comfortable in our skins. As friends, we repeatedly affirm each other’s presentation choices, either verbally or by echoing them in our own choices. Of course, this has the danger to become oppressive conformity. But with a close friend, who you know in all their messy fragmented selfhood, it’s like you’re both in on the joke of “wholeness” and it is a delight to present that face to each other and to the world, together. ” more here.