Brooklyn Museum: Kiki Smith- Sojourn

Smith addresses a wide range of legitimate ideas in her exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum that are often acknowledged but dismissed by society. The show aims to address the lack of creative space that women have had in history and how duties such as childbirth, marriage and house work and overwhelmed and stifled the creative process. I would agree with Smith in that a simple lack of personal space, and the presence of enforced cultural duties have prevented many women’s creative pursuits. While walking through the show, I was struck by the disjointed nature of the narrative of the pieces, both in the physical layout and the ascetic effect of each peace. Most of the pieces had a craftsy feel that felt slightly uncouth and not very sophisticated. One piece entitled Messenger III depicts a small gold metal bird that is surrounded by joined silver wooden sticks. The bird’s feet are not perched on any of the sticks and its path of travel seems to be intercepted by the sticks surrounding it. On the bottom of the piece three gold stars line two of the sticks. The clear image of the bird’s flight being restricted by the structure of the sticks surrounding literally suggests the societal limits that have prevented women or their creative spirit as the bird from flight. Most of the pieces contained this literally imagery of suppression or confinement but lacked a greater commentary or narrative. Together the pieces seemed disjointed and seemed only to reiterate and not expand on the message stated at the beginning of the show. I appreciate Smiths efforts in trying to draw attention to the restrictions around women but the execution of the show seems restricted itself.

Zoe Leonard

Recently I went to the museum Dia: Beacon. The Dia is a great museum converted from an old animal box factory. Natural light pours in the space from when the workers needed skylights to see the colors of the dyes. A new piece that caught my eye was by Zoe Leonard entitled “You see I am here after all. “ Leonard collected a plethora of postcards of Niagara Falls, ranging from the very earliest taken and from different famous vantage points. The postcards are arranged according to their perspective and span almost the whole wall space. The arrangement of the postcards serves both as a way to catalog the photographs but is also visually compelling. At first glance the postcards seem to be of the same part of the falls, on a closer look the angles create an almost panoramic view. It elevates the piece that Leonard uses postcards instead of just using photographs. Although only the front of the card with the photograph is displayed, the historical nature of the sight and the pieces themselves adds a depth to the piece. Niagara Falls is a natural site but its commercialization over the years has added to its iconic and timeless quality. The postcards can both reinforce this notion and also combat it. If the viewer only gives the piece a superficial glance than the vast similarities of the post cards, exacerbated by the same color scheme, would be most apparent. Niagara Falls would appear to be a relic, almost a souvenir itself of a once new and exciting natural wonder. If the viewer inspects the piece closely though, the different perspectives and representations become clear. On the one hand the whole exhibit is a plate and example of the waterfalls changing nature but also can perpetuate the commercialization of the falls.
Last summer I visited Yosemite National Park with my California family. I was struck by the commercialization of different views of natural wonders such as Half Dome. It seemed that everywhere I went the iconic photograph by Ansel Adams. Although the photographs of the park are stunning the ubiquitous image distracts from the viewers own examination of the natural wonders. There is a tension between wanting to document natural wonders and turning the changing natural wonder into a two dimensional commodity.