21 April – 13 June, 2021
Long Gallery
In a 1940 poem, Bertolt Brecht asked:
What kind of times are they, when
To talk about trees is almost a crime
Because it implies silence about so many horrors?
In a 1995 poem, Adrienne Rich answered:
…so why do I tell you
anything? Because you still listen, because in times like these
to have you listen at all, it's necessary
to talk about trees.
Family Tree Whakapapa brings together the work of four sisters to ‘talk about trees.’
As curators, painters, photographers and writers, they portray trees in conditions in and outside of human care and conflict. Genealogical roots and botanical roots intertwine.
In its beauty and force, ‘nature’ is often regarded as benign and apolitical. They do not expect trees to assume editorial stances or embody ideologies. Whether bombed or irradiated, contained or marginalised, in underground union or standing in persistence, trees and their representations can offer solace and space – for the necessity of talking, listening and learning.
Family Tree Whakapapa offers both critical commentary and sensual delight in visualising the tree as refuge and livelihood, consumed and consuming, under assault and triumphant, as historical record, and as harbinger of things to come.
The artists acknowledge support from the City of Boston, College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University, Hiroshima City University, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Lesley University and Masterton Creative Communities / Creative New Zealand.
THE ARTISTS
elin o’Hara slavick – North Carolina
Madeleine Slavick – Aotearoa New Zealand
Sarah Slavick – Massachusetts
Susanne Slavick – Pennsylvania
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
SUSANNE SLAVICK is an artist, curator, writer and the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon University. She studied at Yale University, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, and Tyler School of Art in Rome and Philadelphia. Her traveling curatorial projects include When the Bough Breaks (2019); Marx@200 (2018); Unloaded (2015-19); and Out of Rubble (2011-15). Recent exhibits include those at University of Virginia, Gettysburg College, McDonough Museum of Art, Chicago Cultural Center, and Accola Griefen Gallery (NYC). Honors include multiple grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and distinguished teaching awards from the College Art Association and Carnegie Mellon College of Fine Art.
SARAH SLAVICK is a professor at Lesley University’s College of Art and Design. Numerous awards include a grant in painting from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and artist residencies at Baer Art Center in Iceland, the Millay Colony, and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art. Exhibition highlights include Big Bang! Abstract Painting for the 21stCentury at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park and Dix Artistes Americaines in Strasbourg, France. Her work has been featured in The Boston Globe, Hyperallergic, and journals of contemporary criticism, art and literature such as Diacritics and Posit 9. Slavick engages with the larger regional community as a union leader, activist, artist, gallery director, curator, critic, juror, and teacher.
MADELEINE SLAVICK 思樂維 has authored several books of photography, poetry and non-fiction -- Fifty Stories, Fifty Images; delicate access, Something Beautiful Might Happen, and Round – Poems and Photographs of Asia. She has exhibited her photography and recited her poetry internationally. Her work has been featured in Art News, Art New Zealand, Asia Literary Review, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Mascara Literary Review, PhotoForum, Poetry New Zealand, Prairie Schooner, and Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, among other publications. She lives in Aotearoa, yet identifies as Hong Kong Chinese after living in Hong Kong for nearly 25 years. She is also a curator, editor and community arts advocate.
ELIN O'HARA SLAVICK is a Professor of Art at UNC, Chapel Hill and has exhibited internationally. Her work is included in many collections, including the Queens Museum, The National Library of France, The Library of Congress and the Art Institute of Chicago. Author of two monographs, Bomb After Bomb: A Violent Cartography and After Hiroshima, her writings and images have been featured in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, FOAM, San Francisco Chronicle, Asia-Pacific Journal, and Photo-Eye,among other publications. She is also a curator, critic, poet, and activist.