Olivia Tripp Morrow: Body, Joy, Cage, Scar
Wyatt Resident Artists Gallery
Body, Joy, Cage, Scar features new work by AAC resident artist Olivia Tripp Morrow. The artist’s drawings, embroidery, and video explore the human body as a tool, a worksite, and a raw material. In January of 2020, the artist underwent surgical augmentation to halt a progressive spine disorder. Morrow’s recent work explores her experience of surgery and recovery, as well as the abilities and limitations of her “new” body, while also speaking to broader human experiences of pain, resilience, strength, and vulnerability.
Working across media, Morrow approaches the material nature of the body from multiple perspectives. In detailed and labor-intensive embroideries, the stitches and fibers of her pieces contribute a visceral physical experience to both representational and abstract depictions of the body. Elements of embroidery also appear in Morrow’s drawings, which combine tracings of the shadows cast by soft body tissue with drawings of the artist’s pre-surgery X-rays. Their scale is larger than life, rejecting the impulse to hide the body’s flaws , and instead, consider simultaneously its vulnerabilities and capacity for resilience.
The presence of skeletal forms reappears in a looped video piece documenting a durational performance. In the performance, Morrow is surrounded by small porcelain sculptures, which she attempts to stack into a single tower. Invariably, the towers eventually collapse with a startling sound that breaks the silence of her concentration. After each collapse Morrow begins the process again, exercising persistence in the face of repeated failure and, perhaps, futility.
About the Artist
Olivia Tripp Morrow received her BFA in Sculpture at Syracuse University in 2012. She has exhibited her work in group exhibitions nationally and internationally, and in solo exhibitions in Washington, D.C. and Syracuse, NY. Morrow has installations on permanent loan at the National Institute of Health in North Bethesda, MD, and at the Arlington Arts Center, where she is currently a resident artist.
Related Events
Olivia Tripp Morrow: Body, Joy, Cage, Scar Artist Talk
Saturday / October 16 / 2pm-3pm EST
Saturday / November 6 / 2pm-3pm EST
Additional Information
Press Release
