Outside Us
Curated by Arezoo Bharthania

Artists: Arezoo Bharthania, Dawn Ertl, Kimberly Morris, Diane Williams

August 26- September 27, 2019
Reception: Saturday, September 14, 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Seaver Gallery
Marlborough School
250 S. Rossmore Ave,
Los Angeles, CA 90004

Identity is relative. Our bodies carry many signs of what makes us distinctive: hair, skin color, features, gestures, or the way we dress. However, the perception of these characteristics varies based on the evaluation of these traits. Theorist, philosopher and critic, Roland Barthes was fascinated with the idea that people are influenced by forces outside of themselves. He believed that identity is shaped by our relationship with others, social history, gender, and public status.

The Other is singled out. Otherness is a game of comparisons intended to define the majority and minority: male/ female, heterosexual/ homosexual, Western/ Non-Western. Identity develops from observed dissimilarities to the established majority. Therefore, identity is constructed; it is not essential.

The artists in “Outside Us” recognize their identity is manufactured through a filter of Western culture. Their art examines the pressure imposed onto them to conform to societal norms such as the Western obsession of the ideal female through constrictive body casts and elaborate weavings referencing the daily routines of women. The idea of deconstructing cultural stereotypes of gender and sexuality is introduced. This is conveyed through the manipulation of recycled materials into a loosely woven, “fluid” and mutable identity, unraveling the origins of biological traits that become observable. The artists also use specific found objects that resonate from their cultural experiences and connect them to their memories. They seek the origins and narratives of what makes them an individual.