HANDS DOWN
Solo Exhibition
Historic Loudoun House
Lexington, KY
June 24 - August 12, 2022
The Loudoun House
After fleeing due to a cholera epidemic, Hunt returned home to Lexington with a large sum of money and land that he inherited from his father and in-laws. Insisting on a Gothic revival style villa, when Grecian or Italianate style villas were more common in the area, he commissioned Alexander Jackson Davis of New York to design his new home. Designing the home began in 1849 and construction was complete around 1852. As this time frame is about 10 years before the Civil War, and Lexington reigning as one of the largest hubs for owning and trading enslaved people, this house was probably built by African slaves.
Now it holds the Lexington Art League where artists such as myself can exhibit and make work in residence. For more information, visit the Lexington Art Leagues website.
Statement on HANDS DOWN
In 2021 my graduate thesis installation titled ‘Hands Up’ featured ghostly forms lifting their hands in rejoice, or surrender. If ‘Hands Up’ is about the critical points our society and country approach and move beyond, then ‘Hands Down’ is about the moments in between.
When new regulations are imposed,
When new people are in office,
When your unique identity is no longer a topic of interest,
When the protesters go home,
When we put our hands down and get back to our regularly scheduled programming,
What do these materials, symbols, and colors begin to mean again?
More importantly, what do they mean to me, or to you?
How do you renegotiate your identity and your place of belonging when the illusion of normalcy is reinstated?
Documentation by Dameon Black
Find Dameon on IG: @onmy_qs
‘BROKE’
Mannequins reimagined
The world has a way of building you up and breaking you down. Politics, relationships, career, clothes, music, art are all avenues we use to find and build ourselves. The process of plaster casting is perfect for the moment as it mirrors the trajectory of my life recently, and freezes it in time. It is extremely tactile. With the help from friends, you feel it out and change the process on the fly and very quickly you’re left with… well, this thing your actions have made.
Ultimately, HANDS DOWN is a reflection on my identity. Throughout my life, I have at one point filled each of these different work shirts with my own shoulders, figuratively and literally. My hands have fallen and broken into a state where I cannot bring them to do what I need them to do. Maybe they aren’t being used the way they should. Maybe the load that’s being placed on my shoulders is not one worth bearing. Regardless, things keep changing and life keeps moving. Sometimes you just have to put your hands down and surrender.
