Beverly Semmes: The Feminist Responsibility Project

  • Beverly Semmes: The Feminist Responsibility Project

Beverly Semmes: The Feminist Responsibility Project

Beverly Semmes: The Feminist Responsibility Project

On display from March 15 - May 14, 2011.

In her installation for Rowan University Art Gallery, Beverly Semmes created an important new work. Deploying familiar themes of feet, fabric, costume and performance, the work represents a new direction in Semmes’ intense obsession with desire, meaning and visual pleasure. The installation, titled The Feminist Responsibility Project (FRP) was at once a feminist dreamscape and a post‐apocalyptic feminist nightmare.

Viewers who entered the space encountered a sensuous cloud of virginal white organza fabric that hovered
over the floor like a pool. Within the fabric pool was an island consisting of a table, two chairs and a crystal chandelier that dropped down over the table from the ceiling. The figures (called The Witnesses) wore specially designed dresses while sitting at the table playing cards. One character was the “Bitch,” the other was the “Puritan.” Tension was expressed through the improvisational exchange as part of the performance component of the piece. No words were spoken; they challenged each other only through a shared repetitive act and eye contact. Beyond the pool was a photograph and a large video projection. The video (titled Kick) showed feet running around kicking pink potatoes on a frozen lake in the winter. The sound of feet crunching on snow and ice, and the thunk of foot hitting potato filled the gallery space with an urgent drumbeat.

The artist’s presence was felt throughout the installation of the FRP. She had sewn the fabric pool and the dresses, sculpted a chandelier out of crystal, videotaped her own feet kicking pink potatoes across a lake, and painted on top of the large scale photograph. The new installation continued her long‐term investigation of sculptural space as cultural landscape.

Beverly Semmes: The Feminist Responsibility Project catalog.