Photography exhibit at ASC explores emotions during times of turbulence
Upon entering Catherine Elizabeth Patton’s “Feeling Through: Examining Emotion in the Midst of Unrest” photo exhibit, Torri Richardson was immediately drawn to a central photo titled “Brave I.” Although the female subject’s face is tilted in an odd profile and the eyes are turned away from the camera, they are compelling nonetheless.
“I love it,” Richardson said while walking into a gallery at the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas for a second time Jan. 16.
Patton’s photos lined the walls of the International Paper Gallery at ASC, and the lighting was thoughtful and carefully placed, expertly illuminating the faces.
It’s as if the “Brave I” subject is looking past the moment, perhaps to an uncertain future, Richardson and another visitor said. Richardson is an art student attending the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff as well as interning at ASC.
There are only 19 photos in “Feeling Through: Examining Emotion in the Midst of Unrest,” but its subjects, appearing in photo groups of three, four or five, are often portrayed with unsettling, disquieting expressions, and each relatable in this era. Each photo packs an emotional punch.
“In ‘Feeling Through,’ I wanted to address the feeling I was, and still am, faced with during times of unrest, such as the one we are living through now,” Patton said.
Early in the pandemic, she said, “I was met with so many emotions that I didn’t know how to or simply didn’t want to process.”
The growing number of deaths from covid-19 also had an impact on Patton, as did racial unrest.
“Emotions that came from seeing black bodies mishandled and murdered for simply being. Emotions that came from fighting desensitization because the latter has sadly become all too common in this society,” she wrote in her artist statement.
These photos are her attempt to face and examine her own reaction to national events.
Chaney Jewell, ASC collections and exhibitions curator, isn’t surprised at Patton’s struggle with these two aspects of the collective trauma the nation is grappling with at this time.
Jewell said of Patton’s pieces: “People during this past year have faced many hard realities of the pandemic; lost lives, lost jobs, financial and social instabilities, as well as deteriorating mental health while in isolation. “
“All of these, very real aspects of the pandemic, collided with the social injustices faced by Black Americans,” Jewell said. “Some Americans went out to the streets and protested, while others from their home were moral and/or financial supports. Black Americans were faced with the very difficult task of processing this mountain load of trauma.”
Also, she added, Patton’s work “perfectly encapsulates the emotions Black Americans were and are facing during these two landmark moments of American history.”
“Feeling Through: Examining Emotion in the Midst of Unrest” runs through Saturday, April 10.
The Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas is located at 701 S. Main St. in Pine Bluff and is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. All visitors 2 years and older are required to wear masks fully covering nose and mouth. The number of visitors is limited to 10, and people are welcome to reserve a time slot in advance by contacting Matthew Howard, visitor relations coordinator, at 870-536-3375 or mhoward@asc701.org.