Hands, feet, lips, legs—when we call these individual body parts to mind, we might think first of their physical functions: the ways they allow us to hold, stand, speak, and move. But what about their capacity to produce gestures with cultural significance, to hold the tangible marks of living and aging across time, or to be wounded and healed? This exhibition presents the work of artists who address these broader themes and others. Collectively, their images and sculptures explore human experiences that are at once universal and unique: vulnerability and strength, social expectations and self-determination, hopes and memories, love and loss. Focusing on seemingly simple, singular parts of the body, these works open up ways to see and think about the shared complexity of being human.
This exhibition has been curated by the students in Art History 490: Museums and Exhibition Spaces. It features artworks from the Weatherspoon’s collection as well as generous promised gifts from artist and collector Carol Cole Levin.
