Exhibitions

THINGS WE NEVER SAID

Gallery 1010 (UTK) / 1150 McCalla Ave. March 16, 2018 - March 18, 2018

Robert Parker Jenkins

Behind the societal façade that we create and use to interact with others, there are sentiments and emotions that lie locked away and unearthed. What we would like to say to our significant other, friend, family member or even to ourselves remains silenced - niceties and false sincerity in exchange for the sake of security and balance. Things We Never Said is a voyeuristic experience into the breaking down of two individuals tied together in a relationship – a man and a woman asked to address themselves and then one another. What ensues through simple, locked shot video are two different emotional journeys of negotiation and reconciliation. The work consists of two separate black and white, silent, and uncut videos with each having a runtime of twenty minutes. The videos will be projected on opposing white walls playing at the same time – the man and the woman facing each other in their address. The videos are placed on a loop throughout the exhibition, allowing the viewer to traverse between the two, caught in the middle of a deeply personal experience. This piece provides no place and time – simply being. In that being, the viewer is forced to confront their own emotional experiences and the extent to which they might allow themselves to let go. From this forms a question: what are the things we have been told to hide away within ourselves, and can we afford to let them out?