Installation view, Preparing the Girl, 2023, Kent Place School, Summit, New Jersey
Preparing the Girl
November 30 - December 22, 2023
Kent Place School, Summit, New Jersey
In 2008 I saw a Courbet painting that stopped me in my tracks: Preparation of a Bride/Dead Girl (1850s). Art historians have argued for decades over whether the work depicts a bride being prepared for her wedding or a dead girl being prepared for her wake.
Without reading the wall text to understand the argument, I saw the title and my mind conflated the two immediately: a dead bride being dressed for her wedding. I thought: getting married will be your death. (Shows you where my mind was at the time).
When Ken Wethersby offered me a solo exhibition at Kent Place School, a school for girls in New Jersey where he teaches and runs a small gallery, I immediately thought of my obsession with this painting of a dead girl/bride.
I made a trompe-l'œil wallpaper piece of the Courbet painting and installed it alongside my paintings. Then I met with Ken’s class of high school girls to talk about contemporary issues of girlhood: gender, expectations, consent, body autonomy, anti-abortion restrictions, depictions of girls in media and in art, and many other intense issues girls face every day. It was by far the best conversation I’ve had at any exhibition, ever.
November 30 - December 22, 2023
Kent Place School, Summit, New Jersey
In 2008 I saw a Courbet painting that stopped me in my tracks: Preparation of a Bride/Dead Girl (1850s). Art historians have argued for decades over whether the work depicts a bride being prepared for her wedding or a dead girl being prepared for her wake.
Without reading the wall text to understand the argument, I saw the title and my mind conflated the two immediately: a dead bride being dressed for her wedding. I thought: getting married will be your death. (Shows you where my mind was at the time).
When Ken Wethersby offered me a solo exhibition at Kent Place School, a school for girls in New Jersey where he teaches and runs a small gallery, I immediately thought of my obsession with this painting of a dead girl/bride.
I made a trompe-l'œil wallpaper piece of the Courbet painting and installed it alongside my paintings. Then I met with Ken’s class of high school girls to talk about contemporary issues of girlhood: gender, expectations, consent, body autonomy, anti-abortion restrictions, depictions of girls in media and in art, and many other intense issues girls face every day. It was by far the best conversation I’ve had at any exhibition, ever.
Installation view, Preparing the Girl, 2023, Kent Place School, Summit, New Jersey
Installation view, Preparing the Girl, 2023, Kent Place School, Summit, New Jersey
Installation view, Preparing the Girl, 2023, Kent Place School, Summit, New Jersey
Installation view, Preparing the Girl, 2023, Kent Place School, Summit, New Jersey
Jane, 2023, oil and colored pencil on carved maple panel, 28 3/4 x 23 1/4 inches
After All, 2023, oil and colored pencil on panel, 28 3/4 x 23 1/4 inches
South of No, 2017, oil and paper on panel, 28 3/4 x 23 1/4 inches
Anathea, 2019, oil on panel, 28 3/4 x 23 1/4 inches
Guide to Europe, 2017, oil on panel, 28 3/4 x 23 1/4 inches
Joan, 2021, oil and colored pencil on panel, 28 3/4 x 23 1/4 inches
Elena, 2021, oil and colored pencil on panel, 28 3/4 x 23 1/4 inches
Kent Place School, Summit, New Jersey, established 1894.