Ashley Grier
SOUND ART 2017
Bio: Ashley Grier was born in North Carolina, and raised in South Carolina. She received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Grier is an artist working in performance, video, and installation. She lives and works in New York City.
Thesis Exhibition
Artist Statement: I was born and raised in the American South and grew up with southern politesse and many of its linguistic manifestations. My childhood was spent learning the nuances of this complex social environment and how to pivot from one world to the next through language. A cardinal element of adulthood has been the negotiation of the relics existing in the languages and dialects of this region. I question them, investigate them, honor them, and in some cases, canonize them. The merging of mythology and unvarnished truths, and how one can create an appropriate veneer for the other, fascinates me.
I have begun to integrate these ideas into my practice, and am raising questions about marginalization and agility within social structures—how one moves back and forth between disparate communities—and how languages and codes are required to participate in this social undulation. I also think about labor, physical exhaustion, and consumption of commodities. Another concern of mine is questioning the notion of gaze, and the associated affects it might inspire, specifically related to time and perception of labor. Who has access to the embedded language and what hierarchies are being enacted? I use the imagery, both literally and in an abstracted form, of fruit trees, jams, and cakes that I have nurtured and created. Constructs of politesse and palatability rooted in southern cultural iconography continue to be a source material for my work. Who is the work made palatable for? How can palatability work to inhibit access?iate emotions and inquisitive- ness of the viewers, their connection to their own core feelings such as embarrassment, desire, curiosity, and confusion.
L to R: Black Madonna in Catholic Church; Still from Bath (Frame enlargements, 4min20sec, Video, color, sound, 2016); Still from Matryoshka (Frame enlargements, 15min21sec, Video, color, sound, 2017)