Spring 2012: BFA thesis exhibit 'Our Bodies, Our Stories: Ladies in Their 80s'

Show Dates: April 23-27
Opening Reception: Monday, April 23, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Fine Arts Building, Kimura Gallery

The Bachelor of Fine Arts thesis exhibit, Our Bodies, Our Stories: Ladies in their 80s, multi-media portraits by Nancy Laurel, will be featured at UAA's Kimura Gallery April 23-27.

Artist Statement
Our Bodies, Our Stories explores the inhabitation of a physical body over a lifetime, including the inevitable malfunctions, injuries and just plain wearing out of its parts over time. Having passed the midway point of my own life, I am interested to learn from the wisdom and insights of my foremothers. What physical and psychological impacts do they experience as a result of the gradual transformation from youth to age? Are they beautiful? Healthy? Strong? Wise? Whether we like it or not, our contemporary culture continues to place an emphasis on female beauty and physical perfection as an important source of a woman's identity. How do these women embrace or transcend cultural pressures? What roles have been theirs to play throughout their lives and how have they integrated the various and often conflicting aspects of identity that constitute their whole selves?

The installation emphasizes traditionally feminine materials and processes, presenting the female figure in the context of each woman's experience of her own body, both in its aged condition and looking back over her lifespan. Each of these women has shared her story and has participated in its transformation into a work of art. As you contemplate three specific instances of feminine experience in 20th-to-21st century American culture and briefly immerse yourself in their stories, I hope you will imagine and appreciate the joys these women know, the changes and challenges they have faced and the wisdom they possess.