The Norick Art Center will showcase an exhibit called Heritage Habitats.
The exhibit is a series of large-scale, sculptural and experiential installations intended to inspire the viewer to think about their ancestry and family history. The artists, Ginger Owen, Associate Professor of Photography and Intermedia at Western Michigan University, and Vicki VanAmeyden, printmaking professor at Kalamazoo Institute of the Arts, use their own family photographs to showcase the experience and emotions of contemplating one’s past.
“Vicki and I are friends first, but we are also artists that want to make smart work together,” Owen said. “We both experienced the death of family members, and we inherited their photographs. I believe that every family has that one person who develops an interest in exploring their family’s history. This has led to a long-term collaborative project. We like to think that it isn’t just about our families, but about the family of man.”
The exhibit contains four installations called Kites, Cairn, Grove, and Roots. Kites shows portraits of family members imprinted on flags, with a young girl’s dressed attached to them. Cairn showcases a pile of pillows made to look like past family members. Grove is an abstraction of a forest, taking family photos and attaching them to vertical screens. Roots is a horizontal image that shows the photos of heads attached to the roots of trees.
Owens said these installations show the lineage of basic life stages: birth, infancy, youth, adulthood, old age, and death. The exhibit shows the importance of valuing history and tradition, while also acknowledging that family history can be warped by memory and time.
The exhibit has been shown all over the country, including Michigan, Oregon and California. The artists have given talkbacks on collaboration. Owens said she wants to continue to expand the exhibit.
“I’m working on a couple of projects, and it will be interwoven into Heritage Habitats,” she said. “It’s a constant long-term process. I don’t see the end. The latest piece continues to jump from the most recent piece.”
She said she hopes the exhibit will start a universal conversation about the things that make us a part of the fabric of life.
“I think any artists, when they present work to the general public, hope to start a universal conversation,” she said. “They relate to the fact that everyone has a universal history. I don’t think it’s an unusual conversation, and I think it’s one that’s relatable. It’s important to us.”
Heather Lunsford, director of the school of visual arts, said it is important that people see this exhibit, because it makes people think about their heritage, as well as showcases a new kind of art.
“I think this is one that looks at the art practice of photography, but it also talks about ancestry and heritage,” she said. “It’s more than just looking at something on the wall. It looks back and asks us to question our own history and ancestry.”
Marty Gibson, art junior, said they are excited to see this new exhibit, as well as see new kind of art.
“I’m pretty excited because every time there’s a new artist, I learn a little bit more about what’s welcome here in terms of art,” they said. “It’s always cool because there’s always new kinds of styles, and I enjoy seeing more of that.”
The free exhibit is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Jan. 29 to Feb. 22 in the Nona Jean Hulsey Gallery in Norick Art Center. An opening reception will be at 5 p.m. Feb. 7 in the same location.
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