A 5 part exhibition series. 5 different bodies of work, 5 different showcases, all in honor of each phase of the healing process.
Augusta GA native, Stephanie Forbes, presents (rest)oration, a 5 part solo artist exhibition series that investigates each phase of the grieving and healing process experienced through life. After years of traveling and time spent living in California, to which she dedicates much of her artistic growth, Forbes currently resides in Savannah, GA and studies painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Forbes is set to graduate with her BFA in Fine Arts this spring. From abstract works on canvas, video documentation and projection to large scale installation works and photography, Forbes is indulging in a multitude of mediums and showcase formats within the walls of one of the south’s most beautiful, historical and haunted buildings. This exhibition series serves to close and honor Forbes’ educational career and artist journey, while speaking to the personal healing process, and the past four years of living in one of the most charming and historically rich cities in America. Each show is scheduled to take place at Moon River Brewing Company, on the second floor, gallery; 21 W Bay Street.
pt I; consternation
Friday, April 26, 7:00-9:00pm
pt II; declination
Friday, May 3, 7:00-9:00pm
pt III; exasperation
Friday, May 10, 7:00-9:00pm
pt IV; compunction
Friday, May 17, 7:00-9:00pm
pt V; recognition
Friday, May 31, 7:00-9:00pm
Artist Talk
Sunday, June 2, 1:00pm
pt 1. c o n s t e r n a t i o n (n.) feelings of anxiety or dismay, typically at something unexpected.
Through this body of work I intended to call on the reliance of our memory in the midst of shock. Shock, being the first stage of the healing process, often leaves us fighting to recall happier moments in life where we felt settled, joyful and at peace. Times like these so often are traced back to childhood. I used a multitude of my own childhood photographs as reference images for these canvas pieces which I chose to attribute the size of a standard photograph and scale up in order to create a relatable sensation of overwhelming need for family from the viewer. Abstracting these images and recreating them in a simplified manner I hoped to create an effect that ascribed the effort of focusing on these memories rather than acts which had tainted them. After being given information of something pertaining to your life of things you never imagined possible, these kinds of memories become faded and harder to rely on. Also serving my lack of episodic memory, I created paper collages featuring childhood photographs and scrapbook material highlighting the moments of joy between my mother and I. Scrapbooking was a common hobby in our home and You Are My Sunshine was sang to me more often than not. In notion to the initiation of the healing process, I hand stamped a poem by Adrienne Rich, onto various kinds of paper, that serves the importance of beginning to dig into yourself, the roots of your pains, and your own need for self sufficiency within it all. It is my hope through these pieces to keep the memories alive while also respecting the healing process.
Pt 1 of my 5 part exhibition series, CONSTERNATION at Moon River, second floor gallery, Savannah GA, 2019
I Know My Daddy Loves Me, 36x48”, oil on canvas, 2019
Sometimes I Will Lead You Better Than You Lead Me, 36x48”, oil on canvas, 2019
I Go By Sunshine Cause Momma Always Called Me Sunshine, 7, 22x30” mixed media on archival paper, 2019
Daddy and His Hotwheels,12x12”, hot wheels, gold spray paint on canvas, 2019
Momma and Her Turtles, 12x12”, turtle sculptures and gold spray paint on canvas, 2019
Sometimes You Will Lead Me, 36x48, oil on canvas, 2019
I Will Still Sing Your Praises, 36x72”, oil on canvas, 2019
Diving Into The Wreck, 5, 22x30”, hand stamped poem by Adrienne Rich, 2019
Bathtime and my Favorite Rubber Ducky, 36x48, oil on canvas, 2019
No Place Like Home, 36x72”, oil on canvas, 2019
Diving Into The Wreck, 5, 22x30”, hand stamped poem by Adrienne Rich, 2019
pt 2. d e c l i n a t I o n (n.) a blending, sloping or moving downward.a polite refusal.
Through this body of work I used multi media and material that is primarily reflective and shiny in nature. By use of these materials I called on the second stage of the healing process. Denial. Often, this stage is referenced as pseudo-adjustment. We may lie to ourselves, use certain coping mechanisms like laughter, wear a mask in our day to day life in order to sift through. This may inevitably place us into a state of disassociation as we make ourselves believe that our reality is not real; that we are observing and experiencing something false as we hope to return to some sort of normalcy where painful or unexpected things never happened. I have often found myself staring at the mirror, wondering who it was that I was looking at, finding my circumstances difficult to accept, as I was unable to see and view myself clearly. I created these multi media works on canvas material to intimidate and confront the viewer with a skewed perception and confusing reflection of the self.
Perception I, 24x24'“, mylar, vinyl wrapping, spray paint, metallic paint, mirror paint, resin, acrylic molding on canvas, 2019
Waking I, 36x48'“, mylar, vinyl wrapping, spray paint, metallic paint, mirror paint, resin, acrylic molding on canvas, 2019
Perception II, 24x24'“, mylar, vinyl wrapping, spray paint, metallic paint, mirror paint, resin, acrylic molding on canvas, 2019
Declination, 2, 36x48,” oil painting, mylar, vinyl wrapping, spray paint, metallic paint, mirror paint, resin, acrylic molding on canvas, 2019
pt III. exasperation (n.) an act or instance of increasing the intensity of (pain, feelings.)
This body of work was created to serve the third phase in the healing process, anxiety and the re-experiencing of feelings. I created a video documentation of the human body allowing itself to submit to a large body of water to speak to the vulnerability of this process. You become at the hands of your trauma and often begin to trust where this process is taking you as you start to accept what has happened in your life. I edited the film clip, slowing down the time so as to place the viewer in a space of anxiety and overwhelmingness while assuring them of a sense of calm. I have also printed large format photo stills from the recording and images captured from the project and encapsulated them with a layer of resin over wood canvas to preserve and freeze the moments of vulnerability, anxiety, tension, fearlessness and courage; Attributes often gained and experienced during this stage of the healing process.
Alex Breathing, 24x24, oil on canvas, 2019
Stephanie Breathing, 24x24, oil on canvas, 2019
pt IV. compunction (n.) an uneasiness or hesitation about the rightness of an action.
This installation was created to serve the fourth stage of the healing process. Guilt and shame. Often survivors of childhood sexual trauma, or any kind of sexual trauma, fall into this stage and have a hard time surfacing from it. Survivors feel shame and sadness for using their voice and rising up for themselves after years of being silenced or unheard.
My abuser is currently serving a 55 year sentence for acts against me. I have often considered the quality of his life behind bars. I have wondered if he were safe. I have hoped that he had food. I have felt fear and sadness on the idea of his suffering. And, I have carried a lot of guilt over this false reality that his current state of being was because of me.
This installation is made up of parts of my nightmares rooted in this phase. A broken fountain, an unusable toilet, a tiny cot. Things that likely make up the cell which my perpetrator now lives. It was my intention to create discomfort and distress within the viewer, placing them into this thought that haunts me often.
“Surely there is an element of mortal fear and panic underlying all works of art” -Elizabeth Bishop
The Weight of You, installation, cot, fountain, toilet, white noise, 2019
pt V. recognition (n.) identification of someone or something or person from previous encounters. acknowledgment of something's existence.
This installation, the final showcase apart of my 5 part series, made up of over 1500 sunflowers, is meant to serve the final phase of the healing process. Recognition FORGIVENESS and taking back your power. When I graduated highschool in 2010 I was met at the end of my ceremony by the man who acted against me. He gave me a bouquet of my favorite flowers. Sunflowers. Since that moment I have looked at those gorgeous rays beating from the pulse of that brown circle in a completely tarnished perception. But today, as I graduate from Savannah College of Art and Design, I take that back from him, and lay those sunflowers down to honor what has made me a more complete, humbled, experienced, and grateful human. I honor my trauma. I submerge in what makes me whole. And I forgive. This part of his letter to me, written 5 years ago brings upon me a whole new meaning and something that instills in me a gracious mercy over one who took so much from me, and gave me so much just the same. I am an artist and art making keeps my heart beating. Because of every moment in my life up until now, and furthermore, I am made whole.
