Domesticity

Our exhibition seeks to examine the idea that family is an important, integral piece of our personal identity.  In selecting pieces from the Ackland Art Museum’s collection, each member of our group selected monochromatic prints or photographs.  Our exhibition discusses the theme of family unity in times of darkness and light. Tied together not only by their material aesthetic, these works each display a radical view of domesticity.

When we think of domesticity, commonly we think of life inside the home.  Our exhibition attempts to broaden the definition of this term to include events that revolve around the family, whether these events are as small and intimate as a child’s first steps or as dark and raging as a country at war.  We chose to show different sides of domestic life that contrast one another, but in reality, coexist.

But just as black and white are not the only colors present here, for there is a whole gradient of grey in between; domestic life—in good times or in times of strife—cannot be defined in terms of black and white.

Sebastião Salgado, Scene near the Marubo Maronal village. 1998
Leopoldo Méndez, Deportation to Death (Death Train), 1942
Sebastião Salgado, Rwandan refugee camp mother and child, Tanzania, 1994
Jean Charlot, First Steps, 1946