New works and participatory experiences from a personal journey of emotional archeology
On View August 19 – November 5, 2023 | Southern Idiom Gallery
SECCA's Southern Idiom exhibition series continues with Excavations, featuring new works by Amy Funderburk. An opening reception for the exhibition will be held from 1–4pm on Saturday, August 19. Admission is free, with a suggested $10 donation.
The painting installation Excavations that lends its name to the new series was supported by the Pamela Howland Independent Artist Fund and Arts Council of Winston Salem and Forsyth County. I am very honored to be named the 2023 recipient in the category of Innovative Interdisciplinary Art for this project.
A row of eight 16x16-inch cradled panels will be covered by individual black curtains featuring identical black and white happy-faced self-portraits. Cords will allow viewers to lift each curtain to reveal different self-portrait paintings of "hidden" emotions, including anger, fear, resentment, rage, and sorrow. Participants will also be welcome to select a small stone, focus on the weight of a heavy feeling that they would like to release, then place the stone on the floor under the Excavations painting that most reflects what they are putting down, forming small cairns under each panel over the course of an exhibition. Visitors will also be invited to anonymously contribute any hidden feelings in the mixed-media participatory installation, Open the Floodgates.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Following personal archeology of decades-long suppressed emotions, I am now embracing vulnerable content in Excavations, a new series of paintings, drawings, and installations to transform internalized trauma into strength.
Using works like talismans for emotional self-awareness, I unflinchingly explore themes such as boundaries, shadow work, the Fight/Flight/Freeze response, and self-worth in these paintings, drawings, and installations thematically linked by my healing journey. While advocating authenticity, self-awareness, and self-expression through an Empath's lens, I will encourage viewers to project their experiences onto my own by using open-ended narratives and participatory aspects that merge the roles of creator and viewer.
This series has its taproot in my painting installation The Portal, and stems from previous participatory experiences, including The Wishing Tree Project and the Meditative Labyrinth Elemental Suite. Recent selections from each of these bodies of work will also be included in the exhibition.
About Southern Idiom
SECCA's Southern Idiom exhibition series launched in 2017 as a platform for elevating and celebrating the work of Winston-Salem artists. In contrast to many exhibitions at SECCA, works on view in Southern Idiom are available for purchase. Amy Funderburk's exhibition marks the 33rd installment of the series, whose alumni artists include Sharon Hardin, Terri Dowell-Dennis, Ashley Johnson, Frank Campion, Mona Wu, Owens Daniels, Jessica Singerman, Leo Rucker, Kevin Calhoun, Paul Travis Phillips, Laura Lashley, Sam "The Dot Man" McMillan, and others.