Featuring work by Hanna Odom, Jordan Sommer, Kate Burke, Maggie Walton, and Wesley Fry, Subjective Objects explores the processes and methods of subjective experiences becoming tangible objects. Both objectivity and subjectivity are considered locally, historically, and personally. Curated by Megan Hueble

The concept of “objective truth” often refers to a narrow, self-validating worldview, especially in the context of white, Evangelical Southern culture. By claiming objectivity, the lived experiences and insights of  marginalized people are discounted as “subjective opinion.” Proximity to this dynamic has shaped the lives and work of several Subjective Objects artists. Many of these artists use text in their work, and as this text enters a gallery setting, the artists’ musings, directives, and memories become public and precious. As subjective ideas become art objects, they are validated. 

The power dynamics of the gaze play into ideas of objective and subjective truth. From early Roman sculptures to contemporary movie posters, women have been portrayed as passive objects in service to the male gaze. This objectification was so pervasive that Édouard Manet’s Olympia (1863) was controversial because of her direct gaze, sexual agency, and suggested economic independence. As more women gained access to artistic spaces in the 20th century they asserted themselves as subjects in their own right (eg. Frida Khalo, Cindy Sherman). Other artists, like those of the Pattern and Decoration movement (eg. Faith Ringgold, Miriam Schapiro), created work using traditional craft materials and methods to critique the Western artistic tradition’s idea of “high” and “low” art. Subjective Objects is in conversation with these moments in art history as the artists use craft supplies, “feminine” colors and motifs,  and personal disclosure.  

Through humor and vulnerability, this work operates as empowered self-portraiture–unavoidable proof of individual experiences, or subjective objects.