I had the joy of curating another show this year, Figures and Fates at the Nashville Arcade. Part of the Art Between the Avenues summer program, I was so excited to bring Landon Edwards and Richard Isaac Griggs together for this show. Check out my Curatorial Statement and some images of the exhibition below:
How do you recognize yourself in a stranger? In an age of hyper-individualism, I find myself returning to this question often. In Figures and Fates, documentary photographer Landon Edwards and visual artist Richard Isaac Griggs tackle this question in two disctint but complimentary ways.
Edwards’ “on the road” style documentary photography naturally speaks to ideas of the nomad and the stranger, yet through conversation and connection, his subjects become something more intimate. His work reflects the tension between stranger and friend. Several photographs also carry the haunting presence of places where humans once lingered but are no longer visible, absence becoming as powerful as presence.
Where Edwards’ work centers in the specificity of subject, Griggs invites abstraction of the human form. The drawings and paintings featured in this exhibition encourage viewers to place themselves within the work, reminding us of the space we both occupy and share with those around us. Rather than depicting a singular person, these figures become vessels through which we might consider our own bodies, and relationships to others.
Both artists offer scaffolding for meaning-making without fully defining what the viewer should take away. Their works function between surreality and exposition, occupying the space between abstraction and representation.
In a cultural moment increasingly defined by isolation and self-definition, Figures and Fates reminds us that identity is formed in relationship. The exhibition invites you to reflect on the strangers in our lives, or, better put, the friends we have not yet met.
Photos provided by Landon Edwards
Excellent show and excellent pairing! Your curator skills are unmatched.
Beautiful photos of the space! And a great exhibit. Nicely done!