A group exhibit in Forest City Gallery titled Through Clenched Teeth explores the moment when consumption becomes painful. The show brings together practices that critically address food politics under Western hegemony, and four artists are part of this exhibit to answer this call, one being alumna Patrice Renee Washington '14, who is also a staff member at the School of the Arts.
The works featured in the gallery use raw nourishment materials such as food scraps, clay, flowers, and biological makeup to address latent narratives involving diaspora, racial oppression, and archeology. According to the gallery, “Through Clenched Teeth uses common food practices to provide deciphered histories elucidated visual codes explaining the integration of different political systems involved with consumption.” The exhibition runs until Feb. 7, and the gallery is located in London, Canada.
The Museum of Art and Design, where Washington once held a residency, describes Washington’s work as “exist[ing] somewhere within the space of thwarted potential and clumsy optimism. Often using humor and the sometimes uncomfortable convergence of materials, she pieces together new mythologies reinterpreting the domestic and historic.”
Washington is a New York based artist, born in Chicago, IL. Working primarily in sculpture and ceramics, her work investigates structures of race, class, and gender as they relate to the construction of identity and experience. Through use of objects and cultural signifiers she explores how identity can be manipulated and shaped to explore alternative understandings. She has shown in solo and group exhibitions across the United States, including solo exhibitions at both Marinaro Gallery and Underdonk Gallery in Brooklyn, NY along with a 2018 solo museum exhibition at The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. Group exhibitions include shows at Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; We BuyGold, Brooklyn, NY; Sculpture Center, Queens, NY; The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Denver, CO; Zeitgeist, Nashville, TN; Abrons Art Center, New York, NY; 47 Canal, New York, NY and Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, Brooklyn, NY. She has been granted residencies at Abrons Arts Center, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Lighthouse Works, the Museum of Art and Design, and the Vermont Studio Center.
