From Beginning to End: Laura Swanson

From Beginning to End

October 30-December 18

Reception: October 29 from 6pm-8pm

Our lives are inextricably linked. The artists in this exhibition explore birth, life, and death in different ways, all attempting to understand their own relationship with the world.

Our lives have a beginning and end whether we believe it is predetermined or by chance, we all experience our world in different ways. Some believe that personal stories and memories are what define our lives. Some fixate on illness and our progression towards death while others take comfort in the fact that they are part of a cycle that is ongoing. Even though we look at life differently we will experience birth and new beginnings as well as mourn the loss of someone close.

This exhibition asks the viewer to reflect on and question their own personal feelings about life and death, and leave with a deeper understanding of their own mortality.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Laura Swanson

Laura Swanson, Digital + Media MFA 2011

Thayle & Laura and Young Americans

Veil

Laura Swanson has a strong attraction towards iconic images, specifically political, religious and court portraiture of kings and queens. By inserting members of her family and herself in these roles, she is concerned with the likelihood that the viewer's perceptions about portraiture changes - especially with regard to the implied relationship of subjects in diptychs. What is her relationship to the figures she is placed next to? Is it a surprise for the viewer to find out that they are loved ones of hers? Why is it so surprising?

From Beginning to End