Wendy Lu
Installation artist Jim Hodges contributes "You," a wall of silk flowers strung together with thread. The flowers represent love's sublime yet ephemeral nature.
The Ackland Art Museum shows that love comes in many different forms with its new art exhibition, More Love: Art, Politics, and Sharing since the 1990s. Thirty-three contemporary artists have contributed 48 pieces of artwork to be on display through the end of March.
Organizing curator Claire Schneider says she wanted to create a show that anyone could enjoy. The exhibition captures love as “a whole spectrum of emotions” that is portrayed in themes such as politics, philosophy and media.
“Love is coming out as a topic for art exhibitions,” Schneider says. “It’s been brewing on the surface, and more people want to talk about it in a serious, public place.”
More Love incorporates everything from sound installations, videos and photo projects to participatory art.
One of the interactive pieces encourages people to sign up for two-hour appointments with trained forensic artists who create a sketch based on the participants’ descriptions of their first love.
Lynne McCabe, a multidisciplinary artist from Houston, says Schneider asked her to create a site-specific piece for More Love. Her sound and video installation, “Becoming Two,” features intimate moments between Chapel Hillians in relationships, including couples as well as parents and their children.
“Instead of this idea that when you fall in love the space between you collapses, there’s an idea that we conjure a third space where language, family and culture get created,” McCabe says.
Kate Nevin, a member of the National Advisory Board for the Ackland, calls the exhibit “groundbreaking” because it creates a dialogue about love and addresses questions that other installations have not.
“This show is really about empathy and art and our connection to each other through art,” says Nevin. “Everyone can come in and ask their own personal questions and make their own personal connections with each piece.” TW
