MEGAN LANE

Pietà Exhibition - Spring 2016

I co-curated and organized an exhibition that unpacked the transcendent and universal themes contained within the Christian art historical image of the pietà. In addition to conceptualizing the ideological thrust of the exhibition I along with my team of three secured a space to house the show, raised a budget, installed the show, took the lead on writing and editing press materials, and managed the opening reception. Here is an excerpt from the press release:

 

Pietà is an exhibition that aims to deconstruct the richly historical and iconographical meaning of the Christian sculptural convention of the Virgin Mother holding the body of crucified Jesus on her lap, a meaning that has become ossified and closed off by religious institutional parameters. These parameters determine the figure of the sorrowful Mary’s iconographic meaning, which are used as a vehicle to regulate ideology. We do not propose a ‘new pietà’; rather, the unique status held by such a specifically defined and bounded image offers a rich aperture for deconstructing the many facets that constrict the semiological potential of a closed convention. We pose the question, ‘can such a historicized and regulated image be renewed in contemporaneity through a deconstructive experience?’ Pietà aims to highlight the universality of its humanistic ethos despite its limited form.