“In Bloom” is an art exhibition in Masley Hall, constructed by Generation Action University of New Mexico, that features the budding talents of 13 undergraduate artists. The variety of the mediums presented drives home not just the different experiences of the artists, but the different ways in which those experiences can be articulated.
The exhibition spotlights works on femininity and Queerness, and is open to the public until March 29. Generation Action UNM is an organization with ties to Planned Parenthood that advocates for reproductive health care and abortion care. While the chosen works managed to cover multiple spheres of feminine and Queer experience, most of the artworks outwardly came across as focusing more on the feminine experience.
The selection held a wide variety of art mediums, including acrylic, photography, textiles and lithographic printing. Honoring artists who use different mediums gives the exhibition an interdisciplinary flair.
The exhibit’s intentional arrangement made this exhibit a literal feast to the eyes, from the lettering cut-out of magazines for the artists’ names to the soft yellow lighting that flattered the pieces. It also helps guide the visitors around the room as they survey the art.
The interactive nature of the work displayed drew Madison Kennedy, a fourth-year student, at UNM into the exhibit after she was invited there by a friend who was involved in its production.
“If you came to this exhibition not knowing the theme, it might not strike you immediately that this is all the forms that femininity can take,” Kennedy said.
The artworks were arranged in a way that represented the stages of life for women and Queer people. Some artists explored the nostalgia of childhood and resilience of familial bonds, while others moved to discuss experiences around sensuality and sexuality, but all points led to self acceptance. The exhibition as a whole managed to condense a vast array of experiences into a single compact room as holistically as possible.
The artworks were beautiful but not air-brushed. They featured stretch marks, saliva strands and parts of being human that are typically shied away from.
A charcoal piece, “Sensual Tension,” by artist Brittany-Ann Webster features one large image of two individuals in the middle of a kiss.
In various corners of Webster’s piece, faces and features morph out of the bigger central images. On another corner, the silhouettes of two faces are carved out of a dark area of the painting. The artwork felt mysterious and sensual.
“Everybody’s going to have their own thoughts and feelings about it … I want it to be a piece that just gets people to talk more about (the piece),” Webster said.
“Untitled: A Self Portrait” by Cruz Davis-Martinez depicted a person laying down with one leg in the air wearing small black heels on their feet.
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The composition of the body was simple with flowy, organic curves, displaying itself like actual flesh. In contrast, the facial features of the illustration were sharp, angular and exaggerated, which Davis-Martinez said was a detail they liked.
“This sort of magenta color came to me while I was just messing around in the studio, and it immediately made me think of a womb,” Davis-Martinez said.
Exhibitions like this can provide an important opportunity for undergraduate artists to showcase their work, gain professional exposure and an avenue for expressing themselves creatively.
“I’m getting involved in my college community by exemplifying what it means to be Queer, what it means to be a Queer artist, and incorporate it into male-dominated fields that usually view things through a heteronormative perspective,” Davis-Martinez said.
At “In Bloom,” student ideas and ingenuity are on display. Part the pink tassel curtains at the entrance and take a peek into the minds of female and Queer student artists on campus. What you find there might be surprising and familiar, melancholy and optimistic, and cheeky and profound all at once.
Shin Thant Hlaing is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com
