Coco Fronsac, La poule bleue aux oeufs d’or, d’or, 2015

ARS UNA | ART IS ONE

Role: Co-Curator, Co-Producer, Artist

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Exhibit Design
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NARA collective presents: ARS UNA | ART IS ONE – was an exhibit featuring the transmedia visions of Feminist Surrealists, in partnership with the Every Woman Biennial.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Surrealism, ARS UNA featured multi-media works by womxn artists from the United States, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, Serbia and Senegal: CHELLE BARBOUR, CHEQUAMEGON BOLLINGER, MEAGAN BOYD, BIANCA BUTTI, DELPHINE DIALLO, ASHLEY EDES, COCO FRONSAC, PETECIA LE FAWNHAWK, ALICE HUALICE, CORINNE LOPERFIDO, ANNA MALINA, BILJANA MISIC, LOA MYSTE X KIUMBE KULTURE, PENNY SLINGER, SABRINA Y. SMITH and VANESSA WOODS.

“Connecting the movement with Ecology, female Surrealists saw the liberation of women, all humankind, and nature – as one. As a cultural movement in which womxn initiated a shift in consciousness still reverberating today, our intention with Ars Una is to introduce the Surrealist movement and its feminist roots to a new generation.” – Ashley Edes and Sabrina Y. Smith, ARS UNA curators.

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Exhibit Photography

Photography by Francesca Goncalves

NARA x Future Eyes by @izzoimages

Photography by Francesca Goncalves

NARA x Future Eyes by @izzoimages

Photography by Francesca Goncalves

Select Artworks

Vanessa Woods, The Chambered Nautilus, 2020. 16mm B&W film transferred to video, 3:47

"I'm really interested in creating these spaces that are neither here nor there. They could be the realm of dreams, or deaths - spaces that exist somewhere between reality and illusion. There are references to theater, memory and many layers, openings, doorways or screens where you see something beyond, on the other side." – Vanessa Woods, collage artist based in SF.

The Chambered Nautilus explores the idea of the Nautilus as a metaphor for the creation, transformation and the evolution of life. In nature, the nautilus shell grows in a spiral shape and consists of a series of ever-larger chambers in which that animal lives for a season until it outgrows that particular space. The Nautilus then enlarges its shell by the addition of a new chamber, suitable for the next stage of its life. Drawing from Oliver Holmes’ poem of the same name, The Chambered Nautilus is an animated underwater film in which objects continually transform, dissolve and evolve. Created from over 100 original photograms, and hundreds of nineteenth century collage elements, this 16mm film is entirely handmade.

Petecia Le Fawnhalk, Tower of Transcendence, 2019

“The wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity to the human spirit. The desert is one of the last few places that remain wild. Edgar Payne wrote, "she is free in her wildness.” I am complete and most in touch with my soul when I feel absolutely free. I was raised in the desert and have a strong connection to it. It has been such a profound teacher. She stings me with her sun, but soothes me in her shadows. The desert is fierce, but supremely beautiful. She demands respect, and when earned, offers you all the wealth of the world in spirit and infinite inspiration. It's the perfect backdrop to my surreal expressions. It’s a vast canvas of quiet power.” –Petecia Le Fawnhawk

Penny Slinger, Feet of Vishnu, 1976

On the wave of female empowerment and destabilization of patriarchy, Penny Slinger started producing highly radical works, connecting female history with spirituality. By presenting herself as both subject and object in a group of collages and montages, Penny dealt with both the construction of her personal identity in relation with the archetypal image women.

For now over forty years, Penny has been exploring the connection between eroticism, mysticism, feminism, and art – constantly plunging into the depths of the feminine psyche and subconscious – leading her to discover the toolkit of Tantra and to examine and express the more liberated realms of super consciousness. Her collages, sculptures and photographs represent a unique combination of the erotic and the mystical, merging Surrealist symbols with references of ancient Egyptian imagery and the occult.

“Originally inspired in the mid 1970s, when I saw photographs of the 64 Yogini Temples from Orissa India, this work evolved over a decade. In the late 1970s my partner and I made The Secret Dakini Oracle which was designed around this system of energies. 64 Dakini Oracle is an evolution into a full personification of each of the energies involved.” –Penny Slinger

Delphine Diallo, Oneness, 2018 (video still)

Sought to challenge the norms of our society, Diallo immerses herself in the realm of anthropology, mythology, religion, science and martial arts to release her mind. “I treat my process as if it were an adventure liberating a new protagonist” — Diallo’s powerful portraitures unmask and stir an uninhibited insight that allows her audience to see beyond the facade. “We are in constant search for wonder and growth. I see art as a vessel to express consciousness and an access to diffuse wisdom, enlightenment, fear, beauty, ugliness, mystery, faith, strength, fearless, universal matter.”

Meagan Boyd, Creation Myth, 2017

Through her practice, Meagan Boyd explores the transcendence between dreams and waking-life in the context of magic and myth. Her work often depicts utopian atmospheres filled with modern day nymphs, deities, holy beings, strange figures and creatures who reveal the interconnectivity of animals, people and nature. She aims to create a vision of something innocent, wild, and alive. Her figures are playful and contain the elements of the universe within their own structure. Her work allows her to be free, messy and chaotic in areas, and to be sharp and clean in other areas – helping her embrace the dualities of existence.

Chelle Barbour, Analog Collage, 2018.

Born to a black mother and Filipino father in Oxnard, California, Barbour has thought deeply about subjects like identity, gender, race and culture her whole life, and has explored many of these themes in her work. Her collage-based Afro-surrealism series offers vivid portrayals of women of color as majestic, feminine and bold, with visual motifs like flower petals, reptiles and leaves juxtaposed with architectural and warrior items. She sees her latest work as just the beginning of her artistic improvisation — part of a process that usually begins with “a constellation of women” as her muse.

Ashley Edes, Woman in a Shaman's Body, 2018

The selected collages by NARA collective co-founder Ashley Edes are from her 2017-2019 series ASHE. Ase or Ashe is a West African philosophical concept through which the Yoruba of Nigeria conceive the power to make things happen and produce change. The works reflect a surrender to the subconscious, unveiling union between body and spirit.