Exhibitions

SENIOR ART MAJORS C'26: WEIGHT OF FRAGILITY

University Art Gallery (The University of the South) / 68 Georgia Ave., Sewanee, TN April 10 - May 9th

Roman Belton, Sunny Bowers, Savannah Brister, George Handley, Audrey Hoffman, Sally Whitehead

Weight of Fragility examines contrasting ideas: heaviness and lightness, presence and absence, specificity and archetype. The works embody the complexity of these dichotomies through their material processes, both substantial and delicate in nature. Senior art majors Roman Belton, Sunny Bowers, Savannah Brister, George Handley, Audrey Hoffman, and Sally Whitehead explore the vulnerability of being human through tactile, deliberately crafted works.

Through painting, photography, and video, Handley and Whitehead investigate interpersonal relationships and the grounding of one’s mind from their personal perspectives. Handley’s figurative paintings reminisce on the people, personal objects, and spaces in his life, while Whitehead’s lens-based media examines mental health struggles and the duality of her identity as an athlete and an artist.

In their soft sculptures and paintings, Belton and Hoffman explore the materiality of preserving temporary, complex, and beautiful aspects of life, such as friendship and embodiment. Belton creates a soft, welcoming environment through their materials: beads, fleece, and foam. Hoffman investigates empathy, disgust, and physicality through animal portraiture, wax sculpture, and textiles.

Brister and Bowers reckon with narratives of presence and absence, responding to the intangible. Brister uses light colors and delicate media to process grief, while Bowers combines improvisational violin recordings with large-scale paintings to create an overwhelming, immersive experience.

Collectively, Weight of Fragility engages with its title concepts by coming together to recognize both the impermanence and importance of the world around us.