Rebecca Drolen:
Ponytails & Souvenirs

August 30 – October 12, 2018

Opening Reception:
Thursday, August 30 / 6:30 – 8:30 PM

Our latest exhibition, Ponytails & Souvenirs, features two series of work from artist Rebecca Drolen. In Particular Histories, Drolen constructs daydreams, longings, memories, and fears as they pertain to aging, and the transition from childhood to adulthood. The photographs are concerned with how this transition relates to our faith in the unlikely: When, exactly, in the aging process does our loss of faith occur, and when do we begin to consider the improbable prospects in life to actually be impossible? In the face of grim circumstances and odds, what makes us follow through with what we hope in? Ultimately, the photographs in this series point to our common human condition, and attempt to validate these questions of possibility and give them physicality through self-portraiture.

With Hair Pieces, Drolen explores the fickle relationship most have with their body hair. We consider some hair very desirable and grow and groom it with care, while we treat other hair as shameful and cover or remove it. Once hair has become disconnected from our bodies, we treat it with disgust, yet it has an archival, lasting presence that outlives the body and defies death and decay. In the work, she uses photography and the self-portrait as a medium to construct narratives that function both as visual puns and, at times, as social critique. She hopes to use the beautiful alongside the repulsive in these images to tell stories of growth and removal as they examine a surreal relationship between hair and its place.