Cryin' Out Loud is a juried exhibition that examines the role of women's and femmes' voices as expressed in art about politics, activism, and emotion. Considering both the metaphoric and literal voice, Cryin' Out Loud explores and celebrates the use of art as a form of speaking up and out. A large group exhibition of works by selected artists will take place in CCA's Muñoz Waxman Gallery.
Juror's Statement:
Cryin' Out Loud takes each word of this maxim seriously - Crying. Out. Loud. - and navigates the various implications of the phrase, wheter exasperated and fed up ("Oh, for crying out loud!") or literal, as one who does not hide her desperation or emotion while she is actually "crying out loud". Similarly, "living out loud" has associations with survivors of abuse, with activism in the LGBTQ community, and with anyone refusing to "be quiet" about issues of oppression, identity and authorship. It is time to speak loudly with our voices and our art; with our intellect and our emotion; with our politics and our personhood.
Throughout history women's voices, perspectives, and innovations have been undermined by those in power. In order to have their voices heard or published, many women artists and writers have adopted gender neutral or male pseudonyms. Women have fought for their right to vote, are still fighting for wage-equity, and to have equal representation in congress. Speaking and acting out is complicated for women and femmes because of common double standards like the label "hysterical," for simply speaking her mind. Women have learned to work within these oppressive structures often at the expense of their rights and humanity, and frankly, we are ready for change.
Cryin' Out Loud proposes that to unabashedly express emotion is a political act. To live out loud is a necessary political gesture and that women's experience needs to be seen, heard, and cherished. The exhibition will consist of work in all media that embraces emotion as statement; that broadcasts social and political concerns, and that reacts to and resists the structures that continue to oppress us.
Participating Artists:
Robin Adsit, Susan Arena, Susan Begy, Katina Bitsicas, Nikesha Breeze, Marcie Rose Brewer, Dorielle Caimi, Kimberly Callas, Momma Tried, Eliza Fernand, Vanessa Dion Fletcher, Cheri Gaulke, Melissa Friedman, Katya, Grokhovsky, Maureen Hawthorne, Nicola Heindl, Sarah Hewitt, Jessica Fairfax Hirst, Katie Hovencamp, Victoria Hoyt, Megan Jacobs, Kasey Jones, Casey Kauffmann, Courtney Kessel, Ellina Kevorkian, Dave Kube, Alison Kuo, Emily La Cour, Julia Barbosa Landois, Stephanie Lerma, Rebecca Leveille, Jasmine Little, Cecilia McKinnon, Maura McHugh, Melissa Potter and Maggie Puckett, Mary Anna Pomonis and Allison Stewart, Jenn Procacci, Rachel Rivera, Sarah Rockett, Celeia Rocha, Valerie Roybal, Sack (cara despain), Sallie Scheufler, Christy Schwathe, Rebekah Tarín, Kate Cassatt Tatsumi, Charlotte Thurman, Ingrid V. Wells, Quintan Ana Wikswo, Suzanne Wright, Victory Grrls, Alisa Yang