Artists Take Time To Breathe

From its subject to its materials to its execution, Melida McKenzie-Alford’s From Across the Waters partakes of the aesthetic and techniques of traditional African art, hearkening back to the origins of culture. But in the end it’s the overall shape of the piece (which isn’t and perhaps can’t be captured in a photograph) that draws the viewer’s attention. It starts high on the wall and cascades downward, a serene waterfall. 

In the place where it’s currently hung at Known, on the fourth floor of the Palladium Building at 139 Orange St., it bids the viewer to stop for a moment and take a minute for contemplation. Which, as it turns out, is part of the point.

From Across the Waters is one of the pieces in ​“Unbothered,” featuring works by Juliana Chavarria, Lauren Clayton, Shaunda Holloway, Kimberly Klauss, Melida McKenzie-Alford, Shanna T. Melton, Aisha Nailah, P. Rose, Remy Sosa, and Kim Weston. Curator Nailah describes the show as ​“an exhibit/space for Black Women to unwind, breathe, and reflect through art and dialogue. A much-needed opportunity for connection, healing, and empowerment.” 

This simple motivating idea — especially carried out in a space like Known, with its winding hallways, warren of small offices, and network of meeting rooms — has a quiet but powerful effect, as the viewer wanders the space and comes across artwork after artwork that pleases the mind and the heart.

Nailah’s own piece, Naija Knots, is a case in point. The subject is hair; in a few different African cultures, hair and hairstyles can have spiritual connotations, conveying power and connection with the universe. But Nailah’s piece, in its muted, quiet tones, doesn’t deploy this power explosively. It’s tranquil and assured. That the painting is of a comb brings to mind not the moment when a woman appears with her hairstyle in public, but the time before that, when the hair is being shaped, perhaps by a friend or a relative. It’s intimate and safe, a time out from the rest of the day — a chance to gather strength and hold on to it, and it feels good.

A few of the pieces make great use of the space’s exposed brick. The wall’s earthy red sets off the colors in Lauren Clayton’s Dazed, making the lines in the piece vibrate that much more. Like many of the pieces in the show, Dazed is small, requiring the viewer to get up close to appreciate it. That you need to meet it halfway makes its disorientation pleasant, like looking into a kaleidoscope. 

Meanwhile, Juliana Chavarria’s untitled painting has an easygoing, inviting charm that offers delights as the eye deciphers it. It’s easy to imagine the two figures in amiable conversation with one another, whether they’re actually talking or simply connecting by being in one another’s presence. Look a little closer, and you see that the figures sprouting from their heads are also intertwining with the foliage around them. Maybe they’re all growing together. That the two more astral figures are facing the same way suggests that they’re heading off in the same direction. They agree. It’s a reminder that art doesn’t have to be confrontational or argumentative to dig deep. Depictions of lightness can be profound, too — perhaps even more for depicting moments that can feel so ephemeral. In time, we have to go, we have to get back to work. But maybe we can take some of that ease with us when we do.

“Unbothered” is running now at Known, on the 4th floor of 139 Orange St. Visit during regular business hours.