LYNN — The latest two-gallery exhibit at Galleries at LynnArts, which opened last month, pays tribute to activists and feminists through the artwork of dozens of local artists.
The piece that first catches the museum-goer’s eye is Heather Goodwin’s “Hysterical Women 1620-2020,” a suspended broomstick composed of unkempt bristles that calls back images of persecution and labels that have been placed on women throughout history.
“The sculpture is for every woman for the past 400 years who were unafraid of the consequences of going against powerful men,” Goodwin writes.
Moving through the gallery, one will notice Michèle Fandel Bonner’s “Family Secrets,” a large tent in the center of the room whose walls are a patchwork of natural images. The interior of the piece is adorned with images of dozens of cats and paraphernalia representative of the secrets that families hold. Guests are invited to write their own family secrets onto handkerchiefs and hang them on the wall.
In the second gallery, which explores the more historical aspects of activism, one will find some more Lynn-specific pieces, including Emmanuelle Le Gal’s “Lynn Shoemakers Strike 1860,” honoring Lynn’s long history of organized labor.
GALA began preparing for the exhibit in January when it invited local artists to submit pieces that explored the intersection of feminism, activism and art.
“We like to choose an exhibit that is timely,” says GALA Treasurer Nicole Werth, who quit her job as a luxury apartment manager in Boston four years ago to pursue her passion for the arts. “And that feeds off of what people are already creating.”
Werth’s own series of paintings hangs in the gallery as well, depicting modernized versions of classic works of art to evoke a sense of loss and a world in environmental distress. One of her pieces,“Knowledge is Power: The Systemic Issues of a Predator Society,” depicts Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic image of “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” strewn with plastic water bottles and ghost nets.
The onset of COVID-19 has made showing the exhibit more difficult. Originally, the gallery was intended to be more interactive, but the virus made these elements more difficult to implement. The museum imposes a limit of 10 people in the exhibit at one time to reduce the risk of coronavirus spread.
Other artists displayed in the show include Anselmo Vasquez Paez, Apple Jack, Bedelyn Dabel “FLE,” Bruce Orr, Caitlyn Yvonne, Chrissa Markos, Elizabeth Hall, Ja’rae The Creator, Janice Koskey, Jessica Jordan, Juliet Lockwood, Kathy Abbott, Keshia De Leon, Loreen Mondello, Malika McDonald, Mary Jane Mulholland, Mary O’Connell, Mary Szeman Best, Max Goodwin, Mitchel Ahern, Ms. Lu, Okaje, Rebecca Standley, Sally Jacobson, Sammia Atoui, Sheila Billings, Sheila Golden, and Stefanie Timmermann.
The gallery, which is free to the public, runs through Nov. 4.
Guthrie Scrimgeour can be reached at [email protected].
