Abstract:
CURATOR’S STATEMENT
Call & Response 2015: Lineage
“The picture on my wall, art object and art process, is a living line of movement, a wave of
colour that repercusses in my body, colouring it, colouring the new present, the future, and even
the past, which cannot now be considered outside of the light of the painting.”
--Jeanette Winterson, “Art Objects”
“Lineage,” applied to the conversation between art, literature, culture, and self, asks the
question: what is the legacy of art and speech in our everyday lives? In society? How does
artistic expression in and alongside social movements result in a solidarity of tradition, a larger
communal identity?
Starting in 2009, Susan Tichy and Helen Frederick have curated an annual exhibition in
collaboration between the MFA program in creative writing and the School of Art. The exhibition
is up during the Fall for the Book literary festival in September. The exhibit has been a themed
Call and Response since 2010.
Call and Response: a succession of two distinct phrases played or sung by different musicians,
where the second phrase is heard as direct response to or commentary on the first. Common
to African, African-American, American folk, and Indian classical traditions. Pervasive in military
cadences. In West Africa: also a mode of democratic participation in ritual, and in public
discussion of civic affairs.
Call & Response: a collaboration between writers and visual artists, in which one calls and one
responds. The result is a set of paired works, resonating with each other, demonstrating the
interplay of artistic media, and speaking of our times.
Call & Response 2015: Lineage is curated by Anne Smith, M. Mack, Marcos Martínez, and Qinglan Wang.
