The University Hall Art Gallery is currently hosting an exhibition called “States of Being” featuring works by six artists that explore the femme form until Nov. 1. A reception for the university community took place Sept. 25, while a reception for the general public will be held Oct. 28 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
“States of Being” was curated by Rafaela Astudillo and Helina Almonte, both assistants of gallery director Samuel Toabe. Almonte defines “femme” in this context as being about self-definition, or distinct from strictly biologically female or traditionally feminine.
“Our intention in using that language is to allow people to determine that themselves,” Almonte said in regards to the “femme” designation.
According to Astudillo and Almonte, the display is intended to be a feminist statement. During the reception Sept. 25, Toabe referenced the overturning of Roe V. Wade in 2022. He sees the promotion of plurality as part of the gallery’s mission.
“Sam doesn’t shy away from making political statements and being very direct,” Almonte said. “He has a lot of integrity.”
She and Astudillo see the exhibition as timely in an era when laws related to female bodily autonomy have changed. Almonte specifically mentioned concerns about reduced access to gender-affirming care and women’s reproductive rights being threatened.
“When we first started curating this, it was at the onset of Trump’s second inauguration,” Almonte said. “We started from a place of being subjected to an administration that doesn’t want us to survive.”
Among the contributors to the exhibition is Elena del Rivero, whose work “33 Letters to the Mother” was taken from a collection of 7,000 letters, according to del Rivero. She characterized feminism as “perhaps the most important cause in the 21st century. It encompasses not just females, but everybody,” she said.
Del Rivero, Astudillo, Almonte and Toabe all mentioned intersectionality in discussing the exhibition. Though it focuses on the femme form, Almonte and Astudillo’s goal was to discuss different aspects of identity, with Astudillo emphasizing that the exhibition was never meant to be about one kind of person or perspective. Toabe explained that the exhibition’s title is a reference to “identities being constantly in flux.”
Del Rivero, who is originally from Spain, sees current attacks by the federal government on media figures it disapproves of as reminiscent of the Franco dictatorship, and worries about the implications for artistic expression in the United States.
“There is fear in this country right now to go over certain limits,” she said. “We are going backwards. It’s very important to fight and resist, and it’s important for young people to do this.”
Toabe also expressed concern for the future of free expression in the U.S. “There’s been a lot of withdrawal of funding from foundations and institutions like the National Endowment for the Arts,” he said. “Along with other federal funding that would otherwise go to supporting artists that may deal with topics and representations the government does not agree with — which would amount to censorship.”
Almonte described the work on display in “States of Being” and its promotion as a form of active resistance, seeing it as part of a larger attempt to grant people who feel threatened “agency to be able to fight back.”
