Studio Art faculty and chair, Sheilah Restack presents work in A glitter of seas, the inaugural exhibition of Dreamsong, a new contemporary art gallery in Minneapolis. The exhibit explores maternity through painting, drawing, sculpture, photography and video by contemporary female artists. Gallery partner Rebecca Heidenberg curated the exhibition through the lens of her personal experience as a new mother during the pandemic, which followed multiple miscarriages and a late term abortion.
ReStack’s work, Rabbit and Hold (Rose) are visceral portraits of her wife and daughter, incorporating photographs depicting their tender gestures with fiber walking prints that trace the artist’s movements. These images are juxtaposed with various materials including a rock, concrete, a blanket, rubber bands, and a torn piece of a Felix Gonzales-Torres print. ReStack speaks of the desire to use photography as an instrument of proof, but to implicate the body in the making and reception. Fiber walking prints are made by wearing photo paper for a day, and accruing the marks of time and place. These prints are placed inside plexi, draped over concrete and connected to film images printed on felt blanket of ReStack’s daughter and wife. The show includes work by Nan Goldin, Camille Henrot, Laurl Nakadate, Frida Orupabo, Amy Wong, Krista Franklin and others.
Curator, Rebecca Heidenberg, states, “A glitter of seas presents a wide spectrum of maternal experiences while foregrounding the urgent self-representations of BIPOC women and mothers. The exhibition features deeply intimate and personal work, unflinching explorations of the maternal body, conceptual projects, and work grounded in broader socio-political realities.”
