Front page image: Jane Szabo, I Wish It Weren't So

The exciting artwork of three talented solo artists looking at complicated family and societal dynamics - while at the same time emphasizing the need for care and empathy - highlight the fall exhibitions at Framingham State University's Danforth Art Museum.

Toni Pepe, Lisa Rosowsky and Jane Szabo will have their work on display from October 8, 2022 through January 29, 2023. An artist reception that is open to the public is scheduled for Saturday, October 22 from 6 to 8 p.m.

"Each of the artists on view address contemporary issues at a time where engagement with one other has become increasingly fraught and we struggle to understand the time we are living in," says Danforth Art Museum Director and Curator Jessica Roscio. "My hope is that these exhibitions will challenge patrons, while creating a space for understanding and empathy."

Toni Pepe's exhibition, "An Ordinary Devotion," refers to the repetition of daily tasks and rituals of care, both comforting and mundane, that become the backbone of our lives. "Ordinary devotions" can particularly refer to the responsibilities associated with motherhood and caregiving, and this exhibition uses mixed media and installation-based work to explore these specific rituals.

Lisa Rosowsky's works in her exhibition, "Othering," use a range of media—found objects, photographs, text, and installation—to highlight how we "other" while urging us to understand history and our place within it. To "other" is to view or treat a person or a group of people as intrinsically different, to the point of making that person or group seem less than human. In Rosowsky's words, "Othering negates individuals' humanity. It makes us believe that certain others are less intrinsically worthy of dignity and respect."

Finally, through her work, Jane Szabo incorporates memory, metaphor, and allegory to express the challenges, burdens, and joys of her role as daughter, and then caretaker, of her elderly parents. Through childhood possessions and simple items that had been in the family for years, the artist created tableaus that hint at complicated family dynamics. The arrangement of these objects is not merely a collection of possessions, but a catalog of feelings—pain and disappointment, hope, loss, and burden.

Danforth Museum is open to the public Tuesday-Sunday, Noon-5 p.m. Advanced registration is not required.

Full descriptions of the new exhibitions are below. For more information, visit danforth.framingham.edu.

Upcoming Exhibitions

Toni Pepe

An Ordinary Devotion

We often perform our daily routines unconsciously, rarely questioning why we are doing them and how they impact others. Toni Pepe's exhibition title, "An Ordinary Devotion," refers to the repetition of daily tasks and rituals of care, both comforting and mundane, that become the backbone of our lives. "Ordinary devotions" can particularly refer to the responsibilities associated with motherhood and caregiving, and this exhibition uses mixed media and installation-based work to explore these specific rituals of care. Pepe notes that the labor historically performed by women, including housework and childcare, is often invisible. It exists outside of the economy, unseen by the census, and excluded from the gross domestic product of a country.

Toni Pepe's works explore the artifacts of caregiving and the contradictions in their practice; each subject can be equally about violence and abuse as it is devotion and nurturing, and her works reference that fact. We are living in an urgent time regarding the politicization and power dynamics over women's bodily autonomy. There are societal expectations and intensive debates as to what a body should sacrifice in the name of motherhood. The immense physicality of care takes a toll, mentally and physically. Toni Pepe's works make visible the unseen work of motherhood while laying bare accepted visual tropes of woman as caregiver.

Lisa Rosowsky

Othering

To "other" is to view or treat a person or a group of people as intrinsically different, to the point of making that person or group seem less than human. Even if we are unfamiliar with the term, we are all aware of the action and its devastating effects.

Lisa Rosowsky's works use a range of media—found objects, photographs, text, and installation—to highlight how we "other" while urging us to understand history and our place within it. In Rosowsky's words, "Othering negates individuals' humanity. It makes us believe that certain others are less intrinsically worthy of dignity and respect. It leads us to form prejudices, to dehumanize entire groups of people based on ‘race,' religion, ethnicity, gender and sexual identity, and political beliefs. Worse, individual prejudices can begin to drive public policy, government institutions, laws, and the politically-sanctioned denial of human rights. Othering is at the root of individual acts of hate, as well as wars and genocide."

Rosowsky's work is both historical and contemporary, investigating the origins of why we "other," how hate is manifested, and how we process and memorialize this visually. This exhibition includes works that address distinct events in history, but the prejudices and othering that run through each piece transcends time and place and the pieces themselves are an urgent call to action.

Jane Szabo

Family Matters

Family history is riddled with complexities, differences, struggles, and triumphs. The opportunity to confront and come to terms with the total package of a life well-lived can be both a gift and a burden. The stark and exquisite still lifes of Family Matters illustrate how one artist processed a difficult period, the aging and passing of her parents, and her role as caretaker, by recalling family stories through objects.

As we age, our relationship to family evolves. The dynamics between parent and child, or between siblings, may shift. The one who is the caregiver and the nature of care might reverse. Through her work, Jane Szabo incorporates memory, metaphor, and allegory to express the challenges, burdens, and joys of her role as daughter, and then caretaker, of her elderly parents. Through childhood possessions and simple items that had been in the family for years, the artist created tableaus that hint at complicated family dynamics. The arrangement of these objects is not merely a collection of possessions, but a catalog of feelings—pain and disappointment, hope, loss, and burden. This exhibition allows us to think about how we might illustrate the story of our family and the legacy we leave.