The three artists exhibiting atSouth Boston’s Proof Gallery from March 5th to April 16th explore the idea that the present moment is a world unto itself in the aptly named “Worlds within Worlds.” Philip Fryer, Faith Johnson, and Trevor Powers tackle the question of belonging simultaneously to ourselves, our communities and our environments through their work.
When one walks into the gallery, the first thing to greet you are three of Trevor Powers’ photographs from his project Dog Holes. The photographs depict the cluttered nature of the woods interrupted by temporary, unintentional transformations left by dogs. Powers has described the images as investigation of the relationship between the domestic and the wild. “I do not want to create a picture of this place, but rather see how much this place can tell me about myself, and in the process question and understand my relationship to nature and the natural world,” the artist explains. Fittingly, the project was prompted by his move from Boston to Western Mass, two places that while not very distant can feel like worlds away.
Faith Johnson’s interactive installation, on the other hand, focuses not so much on physical place as it does on encouraging relationships and “collective dreams.” The installation, while small, had its own map detailing the actions necessary to properly interact with her work. For example, one of the stops encouraged “the act of being together” by providing three bags of tea to be enjoyed with company at a later point. Through this little memento from her own exhibition, Johnson hopes that her project will transcend the world of the gallery and directly impact her spectator’s personal life. The artist’s’ work does not tell us much about her personal story as it tells us about our communities and ourselves. This is in stark contrast to Phillip Fryer, whose performance art is grounded in the realm of his personal experience.
During the performance of his project Wave I at the opening reception, Fryer methodically folded and unfolded three different colored sheets to the music coming from his own tape recorder. Seemingly unaware of anyone’s gaze, he walked around the room as one does right after waking up–in a haze. His performance became the most interesting towards the end when at various points he broke the fourth wall. He stood in the center of the small gallery and scanned the room making direct eye contact with each of his observers as if to pull us into his world of performance. At the first, more than one spectator became uncomfortable with this change of roles, but as time progressed everyone was more at ease at being a part of this collective ritual.
Although each of the artists explored the idea of “Worlds Within Worlds” from a different point of view by the end of Fryer’s performance it became clear that they all had the same goal. Powers, Johnson, and Fryer encourage us to live consciously and reflect on our co-creation of shared experiences.
Check out Philip Fryer’s performance art on April 16th at the closing reception.