THIS WILL HELP
You have to want to quit. The first step to moving on is letting go. Time heals all wounds. One day at a time. Tomorrow is another day.

The clichéd rhetoric of self help is an odd pairing with performance, but the two intersect in that they demand a degree of belief. Thatiana Oliviera and Miranda Maynard have backgrounds in photography and use forms of performance as starting points for the work on display in This Will Help. Both artists find a sense of relief in the permissions and strictures inherent to establishing a set of rules for a performance. Consequently, the works lead dual lives, one created for and by the artist, and another which viewers are invited to experience.

Miranda Maynard creates sets of instructions for scenarios, sometimes based in memories of childhood urges, and acts them out in front of the camera. Hers are not, however, before-and-after shots. Each image appears to the viewer in medias res, obscuring notions of triumph or failure in order to privilege the act itself.

Thatiana Oliviera’s practice often requires a model or acquaintance to act out a process she has defined. Oliviera’s busts are constructed by hugging and choking paper bags around her models until she is satisfied with the likeness. Each step in the process after the initial sitting is designed to move the object further away from a specific body. In an untitled project on display in this show, Oliviera contacted people whom she considered “distant,” either geographically distant, emotionally distant, or those whom she merely hadn’t thought of in a while. She asked them to sleep in and send her a shirt, which she then wore to bed. The collected sleeping clothes were bound with muslin, and arranged so that viewers can see the rolled garments peeking out from the white cotton–giving just a hint of the biography of each object.

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MIRANDA MAYNARD is a visual artist working primarily in photography. Much of her work is heavily influenced by performance and cinema. She lives in Asheville, NC, where she is the Co-Director of The Asheville Darkroom, a not-for-profit public arts and education space. She has a BA from the University of North Carolina, Asheville. Her work has been shown in Asheville, and Raleigh NC and Miami. Miranda was an ACRE artist in residence in 2012.

More information about Miranda Maynard can be found at www.mirandamaynard.com.

THATIANA OLIVIERA is an artist working in performance, photography, video and sculpture. She received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and recently her MFA from Columbia College Chicago. She also completed an art program at the School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture in Umbria, Italy and a curatorial internship at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Thatiana was born in Brazil and grew up in Miami before relocating to Chicago, where she currently lives and works.

More information about Thatiana Oliviera can be found at www.thatianaoliveira.com.

ANTHONY STEPTER is originally from Grand Rapids, MI. He studied Sociology and Marketing at Grand Valley State University and is currently in the Visual and Critical Studies masters program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. While at Grand Valley, Anthony was a participant in the Civic Studio, G-rad, nest, and co-founder of Stitchy: a sewing party. Anthony worked at the Grand Rapids Art Museum and Americans for the Arts before relocating to Chicago, IL. While in Chicago, Anthony has worked for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Teacher Institute in Contemporary Art (TICA) and Teaching Institute in Museum Education (TIME), as well as the Art Institute of Chicago’s Museum Education Department.

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Tags: ACRE, Miranda Maynard, Thatiana Oliviera. Anthony Stepter. Pilsen