The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art Announces La Vaughn Belle: “When the Land Meets the Body”

Press Release

The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston School of the Arts has announced “When the Land Meets the Body” by renowned artist La Vaughn Belle, on display beginning August 25th until December 9th.

In this exhibition, multidisciplinary artist La Vaughn Belle seeks to explore the relationship of history, land, and the bodies between them, and considers that who we are is a product of historical processes that are often represented in the landscape. When the Land Meets the Body will present a selection of existing and new works inspired by the Lowcountry landscape. This work includes Belle’s How to Imagine the Tropicalia as Monumental which features large-scale paintings that piece together cut, torn, and burned paper to create cartographies of shifting landscapes and seascapes, as well as a new video installation in which Belle explores the history of the marshes and swamps of Charleston, and how they have been impacted by labor of the enslaved and their attempts at freedom. Additionally, Belle will present new sculptural works inspired by her series For Those of Us Who Live At The Shoreline. The figural sculptures will meditate on the body’s relationship with landscape and memory as part of a dynamic ecosystem that can both harm and protect. Lastly, her Swarm series will display a physical intervention of cuts and burns in reproductions of colonial imagery that seek to emphasize the Black bodies captured in the photographs, and transform the violence endemic in them.

Borrowing from elements of architecture, history, and archeology, Belle, who is currently based in the U.S. Virgin Islands, creates narratives that challenge colonial hierarchies and invisibility through her artistic practices including painting, photography, video and more. She has exhibited her work in many notable institutions across the globe including the National Photography Museum and the Vestsjælland Museum in Denmark. She is the co-creator of I Am Queen Mary, the groundbreaking monument located in Copenhagen, which was featured in over 100 media outlets including The New York Times, Politiken, VICE, BBC Radio and Le Monde.

Please see HERE for images of La Vaughn Belle’s When the Land Meets the Body. For more information on upcoming events, tours and memberships, please visit halsey.cofc.edu.

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