Body, Joy, Cage, Scar
September 25 - December 18, 2021
Solo Exhibition at Arlington Arts Center
Exhibition view of 'Body, Joy, Cage, Scar' at Arlington Arts Center
Exhibition Statement
Body, Joy, Cage, Scar features new work by AAC resident artist Olivia Tripp Morrow. The artist’s drawings, embroidery, and video explore the human body as a tool, a worksite, and a raw material. In January of 2020, the artist underwent surgical augmentation to halt a progressive spine disorder. Morrow’s recent work explores her experience of surgery and recovery, as well as the abilities and limitations of her “new” body, while also speaking to broader human experiences of pain, resilience, strength, and vulnerability.
Working across media, Morrow approaches the material nature of the body from multiple perspectives. In detailed and labor-intensive embroideries, the stitches and fibers of her pieces contribute a visceral physical experience to both representational and abstract depictions of the body. Elements of embroidery also appear in Morrow’s drawings, which combine tracings of the shadows cast by soft body tissue with drawings of the artist’s pre-surgery X-rays. Their scale is larger than life, rejecting the impulse to hide the body’s flaws, and instead, consider simultaneously its vulnerabilities and capacity for resilience.
The presence of skeletal forms reappears in a looped video piece documenting a durational performance. In the performance, Morrow is surrounded by small porcelain sculptures, which she attempts to stack into a single tower. Invariably, the towers eventually collapse with a startling sound that breaks the silence of her concentration. After each collapse Morrow begins the process again, exercising persistence in the face of repeated failure and, perhaps, futility.
Working across media, Morrow approaches the material nature of the body from multiple perspectives. In detailed and labor-intensive embroideries, the stitches and fibers of her pieces contribute a visceral physical experience to both representational and abstract depictions of the body. Elements of embroidery also appear in Morrow’s drawings, which combine tracings of the shadows cast by soft body tissue with drawings of the artist’s pre-surgery X-rays. Their scale is larger than life, rejecting the impulse to hide the body’s flaws, and instead, consider simultaneously its vulnerabilities and capacity for resilience.
The presence of skeletal forms reappears in a looped video piece documenting a durational performance. In the performance, Morrow is surrounded by small porcelain sculptures, which she attempts to stack into a single tower. Invariably, the towers eventually collapse with a startling sound that breaks the silence of her concentration. After each collapse Morrow begins the process again, exercising persistence in the face of repeated failure and, perhaps, futility.
Select Works from the exhibition:
Press & Media
Interview with Olivia Tripp Morrow about the exhibition, Body, Joy, Cage, Scar at Arlington Arts Center.
I edited and produced this video to accompany the exhibition at Arlington Arts Center. Images and video documentation of the artworks in the gallery were filmed by me, and the interview itself was filmed in my studio, with lighting, camera, and art direction by Alex Wenchel.
I edited and produced this video to accompany the exhibition at Arlington Arts Center. Images and video documentation of the artworks in the gallery were filmed by me, and the interview itself was filmed in my studio, with lighting, camera, and art direction by Alex Wenchel.