In Good Hands
Works by Chloé Lind ‘27
January 23 – April 1, 2024
Hallspace Gallery
Chloé Lind ‘27 is a Prep from Charleston, South Carolina, currently studying at Phillips Exeter Academy. Her solo exhibition, In Good Hands, attempts to convey the ephemeral warmth that fellow human beings can provide. Her work explores themes of togetherness, light, and the rekindling of the spirit.
In Good Hands comprises three photographs which utilize light and shadows to depict human resilience in times of hardship. Her work is heavily influenced by current global crises, and how we, as individuals, tirelessly clamber out of the rubble. Chloé hopes her artwork will inspire light in the darkest of chasms and instill in the viewer a sense of tranquility and hope that, in the end, goodness and light will prevail over evil and darkness.
Threads
Works by Alysha Lai ‘23
April 10 – June 4, 2023
Lamont Gallery Hallspace
Alysha Lai’23 is a senior from Hong Kong and Australia, currently studying at Phillips Exeter Academy and looking to specialize in textiles, design, and biology. Working with multiple mediums, including fabric, ceramics, and acrylic paints, Alysha creates whimsical and colorful pieces, sculptures, and installations. Her work is inspired by biological and psychological connections, with her cultural identity as an Asian-Australian growing up in different countries and cultures. Her art focuses on environmental sustainability in her message and creation through the use of repurposed recycled materials.
Proximity
Works by EJ Barthelemy ‘23
February 7 – April 3, 2023
Lamont Gallery Hallspace
Reception: Thursday, February 23, 9:50-10:40am
“I intertwine my role as the observer with the fervent interest in social justice and advocacy I have cultivated over the past few years.”
– EJ Barthelemy ‘23
Proximity features the photographs from two bodies of work by senior EJ Barthelemy ’23. Barthelemy explores the duality between observation and engagement within community. The sites his passion for social justice and advocacy led him to take risks in his photographs, empowering Barthelemy not only to document protests, but to directly engage in conversation with participants and thoughtfully preserve the exchange through photography. Collectively, both bodies of work share a narrative about expression, identity, and how we can learn from one another.
In his first series, Barthelemy captured dynamic images of the recent protests inserting himself in the crowds at the Dobbs v. Jackson protest in New York this past year. He became part of the action, pushing out of his comfort zone to document these events and individuals.
Works in his second series are quieter, intimate portraits of strangers he met in Washington Square Park. Barthelemy spent time meeting and learning about these strangers before capturing their image – choosing to have a conversation and sincere interaction while photographing them.
Exhibition advising provided by the Lamont Gallery. A special thanks to Ms. Cheryle St. Onge and the Art Department for their project support and printing assistance.
“How strong is our power of language — visual and verbal? How can we convey our emotions in a way that people understand and value?
I paint to raise my voice to create a visual dwelling where in order to explore the potential of justice and awareness of current events. I paint with the hope that my artworks will inspire at least one other person to tell their story and express their opinions without feeling judged or dismissed in society because of their identity, lack of voice, or confidence.”
Danielle Sung is a senior at Phillips Exeter Academy. Sung has won recognitions in several art competitions, including most recently the YoungArts Finalist in the Visual Arts category. Sung will be attending Columbia University in the fall.
Project advising and support provided by the Lamont Gallery.
Sabrina Kearney, a senior at Phillips Exeter Academy, presents her solo exhibition Homecoming. The exhibition, a collection of paintings, drawings, and multi-media work, consists of varied materials such as newspaper, oil paints, and video. Her work explores themes of identity, current events, and coming of age.
Sabrina’s work seeks to push boundaries of media and use of traditional techniques like painting in a new way. At the same time, the content of her work seeks to depict wider societal issues and events from her own perspective. Although her work spans a diverse group of subjects, it is always deeply personal.
Project advising and support provided by the Lamont Gallery.
FEMINIST BOOKMAKING & CURATORIAL ACTIVISM
May 4 – June 1, 2021
Feminist Bookmaking & Curatorial Activism showcases the artist books made by students in “Bookmaking as Feminist Archival Practice: Reinscribing Histories” taught by English Instructor Mercy Carbonell. Students worked from the lenses of critical bookmaking, feminist practice/theory, curatorial activism, personal reflection and the essential need for coalition-creations as a possibility for transformative justice within the socio-cultural dynamics of white supremacy. Within this 50th anniversary of coeducation at Phillips Exeter Academy & within the spirit of legitimizing/unsilencing truth, the artists created unique, sculptural, dynamic “books” inspired by interviews with BIPOC womxn/women, queer & white womxn/women trailblazers within the alumni body & current community. These books are joined by works created by students in the Activism in Art club who created original works exploring these same themes of gender, feminism, race and inclusion.
UNITE! Volume II
Who are you? Who do you love? How do you present?
Gender and sexuality are at the core of each of us. They may be constructs, but they dictate behavior and experience in very real ways. The art, poetry, and prose within Unite's Volume II has been created by members of the PEA community, past and present. Their work grapples with the weight of history, body, experience, and the most universal quest of all: to love and be loved.
This is not where we expected to be sharing the work curated here—either in physical or emotional space. The pandemic has exposed systemic racism in our healthcare system, and white supremacy and police brutality are violently visible in the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, as well as the brutal response to protesters across the country. We are all experiencing rage and grief—but in very different ways, and some of us with the privilege of stepping away into a comfortable status quo when resistance becomes tiring.
I ask you all to come together around the people in your lives and communities in your cities and states that need your support. But in order to come together honestly, meaningfully, we must first acknowledge and understand the deep disparity of experience that different identities create. First, there must be truth. We want to unite in power—not in concession. This is what Unite is about.
Read with honesty. Read with compassion. Be open to the questions the work in this publication will ask of you—and the answers it might summon from within.
With hope and love,
Tatum Schutt ’20
Your Blood + Mine: A Meditation on Identity
Justin Li ‘20
January 23 – February 27, 2020
Reception: Thursday, January 23, 5:30-7:30 pm*
Artist’s Talk: Friday, January 24, 7-8 pm
Lamont Gallery Foyer
Justin Li, a senior at Phillips Exeter Academy, opens his solo exhibition, Your Blood + Mine: A Meditation on Identity, in the Lamont Gallery on January 23, 2020. The exhibition, of oil portraits on canvas, explores identity, coming of age, and being a queer youth of color.
Li’s works also highlight the dichotomy between the masculine and feminine, and how he has struggled with it in light of his queer, Asian, and male identities. Li notes: “Through my portraiture, I hope to tell nuanced stories about identity that we often overlook. By exploring the complexity of intersectionality, I can illuminate the multiple layers of my own identity.”
The large scale of his works and his delicate balance of realism and abstraction further impresses the vibrant qualities of his paintings upon the viewer. The largest piece, Self(?) Portrait, is 60” by 48”. The work in the exhibition also addresses LGBT concerns. Li’s title piece, Your Blood + Mine, explores societal stigma and fear of HIV through “bold imagery and iconography.”
The curriculum of the Phillips Exeter Academy’s Art Department emphasizes curiosity, self-expression, and empathy in its students and art. Li has taken a number of classes in the department, including the advanced studio course ART 500. All of these qualities are on display in Li’s stirring and poignant pieces.
In these carefully-selected paintings, Li’s meditation on the self and identity manifests in powerful ways.
You can read more about this exhibition in the February issue of the Exonian.
Project advisors: Lamont Gallery and the Exeter Art Department
Hairlines
Elizabeth Kostina ’20
February 10-28, 2020
Academy Building/Class of 1945 Library
Phillips Exeter Academy
Reception & Screening: Tuesday, February 11, 7-8 pm
Academy Building Foyer
Lunchtime Artist’s Talk: Wednesday, February 26, 12:45 pm
Latin Study
It has become easier than ever to present idealized versions of ourselves to the public, but these idealized identities can become spectacles, performances for others as opposed to reflections of our true selves.
The pressure to present or pass for a mainstream identity (e.g. cisgender or heterosexual identity) is significant and prevalent. People must adhere to certain mannerisms in order to be validated by the dominant culture, perhaps by engaging with stereotypes, by speaking, dressing, or behaving in a manner so that their difference is downplayed. Throughout these code switches, the body and hair remain relatively permanent. Therefore, to change your hair is to make a conscious and curated act of presentation, one more long-lasting than makeup or a style of dress.
The photographic, film, and archival works in Hairlines provides an alternate and more candid view of queer identities by subverting the idealized selves we see on social media, YouTube, filters, and posts. Hairlines focuses on the connections between the external and mental relationship between a queer person’s hair, their gender and/or sexual identity, and the blueprints that inform their current appearance.
Raw. Without makeup, product, accent, or fancy equipment, subject and photographer work together in order to present the ideal self: each unfiltered subject as they are.
View the Hairlines Exhibition Catalog.
Project advising and support: Department of Theater & Dance, the Lamont Gallery, the Class of 1945 Library/Archives & Special Collections, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
Oh!
An Origami Exhibit
April 10 – May 14, 2018
Origami is not just paper folding. It started out that way, but like many things, origami has evolved. Oh! explored and celebrated these stages of evolution.
This exhibition was developed by Elizabeth Kostina ’20 and with the help of the Origami Club and math instructors she created an exhibition that celebrated how origami provides bridges into the sciences and into the arts. Paper isn't so simple once you get into it.
Works on view by: Elizabeth Kostina ’20, Zhaoran Chen ’20, Stuart Wickard ’19, Mr. Robert Richards from the Theater and Dance Department and Mr. Philip Mallinson from the Math Department. Thank you to Kayoko Tazawa of the Modern Languages Department and Mr. Mizuno for their important contributions to the Origami club and this exhibit.
Check out this article written in the Exonian about this exhibition. You can see photos from the exhibition on our Flickr page.
Staff of Exeter
April 26 – 28, 2017
Staff of Exeter, created by Perry Asibey-Bonsu '17, was a brief moment of appreciation of the Exeter staff members who are responsible for keeping the Academy running.
Perry asked his subjects to step into the spotlight and they did so humbly and openly, sharing their varied stories and experiences. These subjects are a small sampling of the beautiful mosaic that is the Exeter community.
We All Bleed Red
January 29 – February 19, 2016
This exhibition, led entirely by students, was a social awareness project that used the arts to address the question:
"What is it like to be _____ at Exeter?”
Each year since this first We All Bleed Red event, a new group of students have taken on the challenge of organizing this now annual exhibition which includes artwork, poetry, and creative writing by current students. Continuing the tradition, students have expanded the exhibition and moved it to larger and more public school venues.
Original student coordinators were Kevin Zhen '16, Carissa Chen '17, and Pranay Vemulamada '16.
Read more about the exhibition in the Exeter Bulletin and see photos from the event on Flickr.
SKIN
March 3, 2016
This pop-up exhibit featured paintings by Alexandra Grounds ’17 and digital photographs by Alex Zhang ’16. This body of work was created in Art 999 - a specialized Art Department course designed for students who are prepared for deeper professional study and exploration of skills and concepts.
Alexandra and Alex were involved with every aspect of the exhibition process including designing publicity, and curating and installing their work in the gallery.
Photos from the exhibition can be seen on Flickr.
Interconnected:
Community & Conservation
April 6-May 2, 2015
Interconnected: Community & Conservation was a photographic exhibit by David Shepley ‘16, showing images from both Namibia and Tanzania where he presented two stories of the unique relationships between Africa’s wildlife and the different indigenous peoples of the continent.
During his travels throughout Namibia, Shepley learned about the ancient relationship between wildlife and the San Bushmen, of the ever-challenging human-wildlife conflict between farmers and large carnivores, and the tireless efforts to combat poaching.
In his exhibit, Shepley shared his stories from abroad to raise awareness for the hopeful efforts to reduce human wildlife conflict, a key step in the preservation of our world’s endangered wildlife.
I Drew My Family:
Artwork by Syrian Children Refugees
April 11 – May 3, 2014
This exhibition showcased art made by children in a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey. Curator Metincan Suran ’15 worked at the camp with children who sought art as an asylum from their experiences during the Syrian Civil War. The children were asked to express their emotions and thoughts about a theme or topic of their choice, such as conflict, family, or happiness. With few supplies, and under difficult circumstances, these young artists gave voice to their values, hopes and dreams. The exhibition was subsequently on view at Yale University where Metincan is a student.
Photos from the exhibition can be seen on Flickr.