The School of Art & Art History invites you to join us for the reception of “As We Recompose,” the second of two UIC MFA Thesis Exhibitions in Studio Arts, Photography, Moving Image, and New Media Arts.

Artists Daniel Haddad Troconis, Sarah O’Neil, Jennifer Webster, and Emme Williamson participate in a roundtable discussion moderated by Carrie Secrist in the Gallery 400 lecture room at 5pm with a reception to follow..

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ABOUT THE SHOW:

As We Recompose includes works concerned with naming and identities, disruption, and actions for healing by artists Daniel Haddad Troconis, Sarah O’Neil, Jennifer Webster, and Emme Williamson. Oscillating between personal states of being and our collective consciousness as citizens of the world, the artists in As We Recompose consider the whole-in-parts and what constructs our emotional lives. Using ritual, structure, and intentional actions, these artworks create paths for healing and understanding.

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BIOS:

Daniel Haddad Troconis is an interdisciplinary artist whose work focuses on the sociopolitical problems of immigration policies, stereotypes, and the growing gaps within economic statues The work is re-created through the daily social engagement he faces within different communities through the geographical and social borders in our existence. Haddad raises the viewer’s awareness of the routines that immigrants, including himself, face daily to reach equal opportunities and achieve the potential for a better living: dealing with the Federal process of documentation to keep their status classification, the engagement within communities from the inside as well as the outside in a foreign environment, and dealing with the daily submissions of hard labor and low class income. He was born in Mexico City and lived for 10 years in Texas where he received a BFA at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Sarah O’Neil (b.1982) is an interdisciplinary artist currently based in Chicago, IL. The artist’s recent work deals with the struggles of grief and trauma. O’Neil discusses one of the great lasting taboos in our society while exploring the mysteries surrounding death and the fear that this causes.

Jennifer Webster was born in Chicago and grew up spending equal time in Lakeview and the Southwest Suburbs. Webster’s painting practice begins with a collaged-collective of pre-imagined visualizations. As the painting-on-surface process begins, the interior becomes externalized, resulting in a transformation of elements, the painting revealing something new in its realization. Her method of creating mirrors the content; it is a dance of revealing and concealing, of covering and uncovering, physically and metaphorically. She draws inspiration from razzle-dazzle, surrealist and early modern literature, the history of painting, animals and the natural world, collage, patterns, and the handkerchief.

Emme Williamson is an interdisciplinary artist, most recently focused on making videos and zines around identity, rituals, and familial narratives. Their research interests include cultural trauma, spirituality, and the body. Emme was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest and received their BA from the University of Rochester in 2013.

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Tags: As We Recompose, Carrie Secris, Chicago, Daniel Haddad Troconis, Emme Williamson, Gallery 400, Illinois, Jennifer Webster, near west side, Sarah O'Neil