And yet, Dugger renders them joyful and beautiful, reclining and covered in gems. Their irregular extremities are intended to express a state of atrophy, a wasting away of muscles, which is a symptom of many physical disabilities. These anthropomorphic figures are another way for the artist to visualize her own body. Their long, lumpy limbs are adorned with pearls, sparkles, colorful braids, and other markers of exuberant femininity. The surface of the works is thus richly layered, both demanding attention and refusing any simple legibility.Īlso included in the exhibition are four soft sculptures by Dugger, each seated on an antique garden chair. As a disabled Black woman, I have a desire for people to accept or appreciate me for both my surface and what’s below it to humanize me not because of my appearance, but despite it.” These paintings channel the complexity of the artist’s identity through bold colors, sly references to art history, fractured patterns, and overflowing viscera. As she wrote in a recent essay, “It’s easy to be overlooked when you don’t have a seat at the table, but thankfully I always bring my own chair. Out of Body includes a series of self-portraits in which the artist dissects her identity as a Black, disabled woman through a blend of playful imagery and grotesque forms. Working across these forms, Dugger produces objects that blur accepted categories, exploring novel modes of self-expression and embodiment. The exhibition will include paintings, mixed media works, and sculptures made by the artist during the past year. Sargent’s Daughters is pleased to present Out of Body, the first solo presentation of the work of Victoria Dugger, an MFA candidate at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia.
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