Invitation to Exhibit
in The BackSpace Gallery
Hera Gallery invites you to be part of Erosion, a special response exhibition to the deterioration of civil liberties and freedoms in America through the lens of the Dobbs decision. What does the loss of reproductive sovereignty mean specifically and/or in the larger context of civil liberties, and how have you expressed your emotions through your art?
CLOSING RECEPTION:
Saturday, December 17th 6-8pm
The recent reversal of Roe vs. Wade by the United States Supreme Court ripped through the art community, eliciting feelings of shock, anger, sadness, frustration, and fear. For many, years of hard work in the establishment and defense of women’s reproductive rights were summarily dismissed with the Dobbs decision’s sweeping motion, while for others, the stripping of one’s right to self-determination has been devastating and dehumanizing.
In the aftermath of the immediate of the decision, many artists have placed the outcome of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in the context of the slow erosion of Americans’ personal and civil rights. Along with abortion, the right to vote, race and gender equality, religious freedom, sexual orientation and the separation of church and state have been assailed for many years, suddenly the war against these civil rights has intensified. Those who oppose these rights are emboldened that the same legal grounds used to overturn Roe will be soon applied to contraception and gay marriage.
Hera Gallery invites you to be part of Erosion, a special response exhibition to the deterioration of civil liberties and freedoms in America through the lens of the Dobbs decision. What does the loss of reproductive sovereignty mean specifically in the larger context of civil liberties, and how have you expressed your emotions through your art?
Erosion will be the first exhibition in our Backspace gallery, a new space dedicated to experimental, multi-media and installation work. The format of the show will not follow a traditional path, but beginning on October 15th, Work will be accepted on a continual basis through its closing on December 17th, growing and mutating as more work is gathered and spreads through the space. During this process, the show will be continually documented and presented online.
The exhibition is largely artist driven. There is no entry fee, and each artist may contribute as many pieces as they would like. The size limitation of a legal document (8.5”x14”) has been chosen for its significance to the law as well as egalitarian aspect, in regard to the output of prints for digital artists and photographers. It also is a size utilized for underground posters and zines; inexpensive methods long used by artists to disseminate information. In this vein, simple posters are fine, or pieces can be as elaborate and innovative as the artist would like.
Media and substrate are completely up to the artist as long as the work is legal document size. Please do not frame your artwork. We will be hanging the submissions with pushpins, so be aware the corners of the work will (discreetly) be pierced. Also note that depending on how many artists take part, pieces may overlap. The floor is also in play as an exhibition surface. Low-relief work is acceptable, but the artist will have to provide any special hanging apparatus. Unfortunately, due to the format of the installation, three-dimensional work cannot be accepted but artists should feel free to present 2D photographs or renderings of such work.
