Toppled, artist Jessica Vaughn’s latest exhibition, will be running at the Stamp Gallery at the University of Maryland from October 14th – December 18th, 2009. This Friday, celebrate the exhibit with an opening reception and artist talk.

In her current exhibition, Toppled, Jessica Vaughn explores historical and cultural issues through the athletic performance of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. The 1936 Olympics were meant to support political myth in the promotion of a German state and the cultural myth of the inferiority of black citizens; however, with the unlikely outcomes of the athlete’s performances, these myths were challenged. In appropriating the iconic image of Jesse Owens from Leni Riefenstahl’s 1938 film Olympia as well as archival still images from the Games, Vaughn critiques the sporting event as a heightened connection between euphoria and spectacle, between the body and a public space. On her prints she collages additional representations and layers of carborundum so that Owens’ initial image becomes more complicated and more of a metaphor for this political moment. A former competitive athlete herself, Vaughn witnessed the emotion spectators had for an individual within a performative moment. She uses these experiences to challenge conventional representations of public spaces, and minority bodies through material choices.

Details:

Friday, October 23
Stamp Gallery
1220 Stamp Student Union
Adele Stamp Memorial Union
The University of Maryland
College Park, MD
5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.