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| Soliloquies: Jen Davis & Shawn Scully Originally exhibited in the John R. Grady Gallery of Photographic Art, Elgin Community Colllege The word Soliloquies refers to a dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself, revealing their thoughts to the audience in the process. In the Woody Allen film Annie Hall, the lead character (portrayed by Allen himself) frequently turns from the unfolding scene and addresses and engages the audience directly, breaking from the traditional notion of the film as a one-way observation of an illusionary space. These asides implicate the viewer as an active participant rather than a passive observer and engage the viewer in a direct relationship with the character as well as offering additional insight. The photographs of Jen Davis and Shawn Scully reflect and expand this idea. Each artist photographs themselves to investigate their relationship to their surroundings and culture and do it in such a way as to activate a direct relationship to the viewer. The photographs of Jen Davis are concerned with body image and the correlation between internal and external perception of size and body type in our society. In the piece Seconds, the artist is frozen in a moment of decision at the dinner table reflecting the tension between desire and ettiquite . Davis also simultaneously compares the two female figures, the other woman picks at her food seemingly oblivious to the internal struggle faced by the artist. The artist makes direct eye contact with the viewer, engaging and pulling the viewer into the internal conflict.
Shawn Scully’s photographs investigate the role of the male father-figure in the traditional family structure. In photographs such as Zoo, we observe Scully with his son on a traditional family outing to the zoo. The son in the photograph is oblivious to the presence of the camera and is portrayed in the boyish act of looking at the zoo animals. Scully, dressed in the archetypal apparel of collared shirt and tie with cardigan sweater, is frightneningly self-aware of his role as the father-figure and responsibilities that it entails. His gaze seems to reflect the weight of these responsibilities and the culture that imposes them.
Each of these artists raise important issues and questions for the viewer to consider. Who establishes identity? Is identity ours to create or given to us by a larger culture? How do societal expections and pressures vary with gender? How does internal perception vary from external perception? Are we ourselves or are we what people make of us? - Nate Larson |
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