![]() My family is from Texas and Arkansas, and they used to chop cotton in order to put themselves through school and feed their family. “It is covered with thousands of cotton balls. The armillary sphere is motorized and covered in cotton balls, Gary’s way of reclaiming something associated with slavery and violent history. “Ja’Tovia looks to symbols of ancient knowledge of past cultures to celebrate not only her ancestors but also to point the way toward healing from collective trauma,” Brodbeck said. The sculpture takes the form of an armillary sphere, an ancient device used across cultures to visualize the cosmos. Precious Memories is based on Gary's childhood living room.Īt the center of the exhibition is In my mother’s house there are many, many…, a sculpture commissioned by the Dallas Museum of Art that will become a part of the museum’s collection. “Whether we’re talking about the violence of a country, the violence of a community, or the violence of a family, how do we counter that with care?” “This entire installation is about the violence of the interior,” Gary said. The third monitor shows a heavily pixelated pornographic film that is so distorted that no figures are apparent and only occasionally is there a sense that something explicit is happening.Ĭombined the works speak to the story people tell themselves about their lives, their communities, and their place in the world and how people cope with adversity. ![]() The middle monitor is footage from her stepfather’s funeral, depicting familiar and timeless rituals of grief. Gary interrupts these stereotypes by scratching, painting and etching into the surface of the film, a hallmark of Gary’s artistic practice. The top monitor features Louis Armstrong performing When it’s Sleepy Time Down South along with other archetypes of Blackness. ![]() This piece is sort of a surrealist reimagining of my childhood home,” Gary said. “To me, this is a great companion piece for this piece which is called Precious Memories. On a wall is a neon work, Citational Ethic, featuring a quote from Black feminist scholar Saidiya Hartman, “Care is the antidote to violence.” The piece is paired with a living room scene with La-Z-Boy recliner, a framed photograph of Gary’s mother, and a tower of three monitors. Walking into the exhibition is like walking into someone’s home. Anna Katherine Brodbeck, the museum’s Hoffman Family Senior Curator of Contemporary Art and curator of this exhibition. “Her work is rooted in place, time and family forming a rich portrait of the Black American South, but it also transcends,” said Dr. Her work is personal, often inspired by her own family and centered on Gary’s philosophy of care. Citational Ethics features a quote by Saidiya Hartman.
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