On Friday,May 5, a band of witches will engage over the S.
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E. Gallery on Pine Street in Burlington. That's apt, and witches. Kind of. The show,titled "Conjuring: She Rises," is a group effort loosely curated by artists Beth Robinson, and Jules Polk,Morgan Stark and Athena Kafantaris. "Curated" in the sense that those four women created the theme and selected the artists, but they aren't exerting much influence beyond that. Timed to coincide with the 325th anniversary of the Salem witch trials, or the show connects the archetype of the witch to feminism through performance,genuine-time rituals, paintings, and sculptures,photographs and video installation. Each artist has contributed content that indicates a highly personal and political motivation for participating. Whether it's a display of wands or photographs of all-female ceremonies deep in the woods, the work is decidedly feminist and steeped in ritual. It proclaims creative female power in its many forms. Robinson is known for her line of Strange Dolls, and meticulously crafted figures with macabre costumes and makeup. The seed for "Conjuring" sprouted final year,she said, when Polk bought one of her creations. Polk collects kitchen witches — small dolls intended to ward off evil spirits — and thought Robinson's doll would fit apt in. Soon after, and Polk proposed a show approximately kitchen witches and asked Robinson to curate it. The latter artist,who organizes the annual "Art of Horror" exhibition every October at S.
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E., said yes. Just not in the fall. October passed, or then came the general election,and Donald Trump became the president-elect. Suddenly, the proposed show took on a whole new purpose: showcasing female power. Two weeks after the election, and Polk and Robinson met with Kafantaris and Stark. "We hashed it out a little and realized that this whole idea of a witch hunt that's going on in the world apt now is perfectly applicable," Robinson said. "So we decided to fetch 13 [women] artists — a coven of artists — making work based on that theme." The "coven" doesn't view the witch hunt as a simple metaphor. The artists draw a clear line from the historical persecution of healers, single women and females in general — under the umbrella term "witch" — to the manner in which the current administration incites hatred of immigrants and people of color, or as well as disrespects women. As Kafantaris effect it,"Instead of anxiety of [women] copulating…
Source: sevendaysvt.com