Featuring work by Shannon Finnegan, Chitra Ganesh, GenderFail, Yvette Granata, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Linda Stupart, and Eva Wŏ, An Alarming Specificity engages with human bodies which do not align with a fictional norm grounded in white patriarchal hegemony. Curated by Aubree Penney, the exhibition examines ways artists subvert the predominance of white, heterosexual, cis-male, non-disabled bodies as the default of humanity.
Though the physical exhibition and events have been cancelled to help limit the spread of COVID-19, the exhibition will continue its work of upholding individual bodies attempting to survive and thrive in a world which frequently neglects to support, protect, recognize, or heal them. Through its physical closure as an act of care which centers vulnerable bodies, as well as its online presence, An Alarming Specificity is about loving bodies and beings as they are, finding tactics for support. I can think of nothing that suits the project so much as these protective measures. In this interim space, the show still exists, albeit in a very different form. Sometimes care looks like distance. Check the website for forthcoming online elements of the exhibition, and in the spirit of the project, please be extra gentle with yourselves as we navigate this difficult moment.
—Aubree Penney, Curator
The exhibition is made possible with support from The John B. Hurford ’60 Center for the Arts and Humanities, the House Fund for Distinguished Visiting Artists and Critics, and the Haverford College Distinguished Visitors Program.
Featured image detail from Eva Wŏ’s You’ve Earned a Licking (featuring Icon Ebony Fierce) and font by GenderFail.