With racial, religious, gender, sexuality and other differences currently taking front and center stage, Wilton artist Pamela Hovland has a timely exhibition opening this Friday, Jan. 27 at the Westport Arts Center. The gallery show, As We Are, is a collaborative installation between Hovland, photographer (and Wilton resident) Xenia Gross and the broader Westport community that presents a local perspective on identity and stereotype that people of all demographics encounter daily.
The exhibition features portraits of students, community leaders, business professionals, artists, immigrants, religious figures, cultural influencers and elected officials who have contributed personal material to express their individual views and experiences with labels and the power of words.
An opening reception for the exhibition will be held on Friday from 6-8 p.m. and is free and open to the public. The exhibition will be on view through March 11.
Following a Westport Arts Center fall series, MORE Than Words, which explored the same themes, the community was asked to submit a postcard with a response to complete the phrase, “I AM MORE THAN ___.” The request was answered by more than 500 participants who contributed their declaration, often after considerable thought as to how they believe they are perceived.
The community’s contributions both reveal and conceal personal identities that create insight, compassion and a reevaluation of how people perceive and label themselves and each other. The words are as varied as the people who participated. Among them, “I am more than … my grades … a housewife … my bank account … bi-polar … gay … Jewish … a twin … middle-aged … my pretty clothes … a mailman … a bald guy … an immigrant … a nun.”
“Words really do matter,” Hovland says. “As a designer and artist, I’m interested in both the formal and semantic qualities of language. And as a member of this community, I’m interested in finding compelling ways to share our diverse personal stories. I hope this exhibition serves as a reminder that the labels we place on each other will never adequately capture the complexity of our humanity.”
Amanda Innes, executive director of the Westport Arts Center, says the exhibition is interesting in what the subjects reveal about themselves. “Although the photos are anonymous, you may recognize leaders of our community – including our politicians, artists, bloggers and other influencers. In addition to their ‘declaration,’ they have shared other aspects of their identity which may surprise.”
Rounding out the installation are silhouettes of everyday people we might encounter, triggering in
us the impulse to identify them based on size, shape, gesture; the words we ascribe to them quickly form in our mind’s eye. The exhibition is brimming with personal yet anonymous content that is revealed and concealed, deconstructed and reassembled, challenging us to assess how we judge others on very little information.
The public is encouraged to make and share their own declaration by visiting the Westport Arts Center or by visiting the Arts Center’s website and social media.
All photographs for As We Are are courtesy of Xenia Gross of Xenia Gross Photography.
For more information on the exhibition or supporting programming, visit the Westport Arts Center website.
The Westport Arts Center is located at 51 Riverside Ave. in Westport.