Art Show 2021: Resonance
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Resonance [ˈrezənəns] NOUN
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Since its origins, humanity has had an obsession with being heard. The very creation of language is indicative of this desire—an unwillingness to let the emphatic beauty and creativity of the human soul remain silent. In this way, the name Resonance is emblematic of a furthering of this innate human desire. This is a reverberating exhibit of the human propensity for voice and creativity.
Resonance is a creative exhibition of the visual artwork created by over twenty artists who are incarcerated in prisons across the state of Oregon. In recognition of the remarkable talents of these artists, the University of Oregon Prison Education Program and the EMU Center for Student Involvement’s Visual Arts Team have worked in conjunction to exhibit their work to the outside world.
Given that the work on display is visual, the title Resonance may seem surprising, as the word is usually associated with sound. However, even visual art is not silent. It is created with the intention of speaking outside the finitude of language. It can be rhythmical, strident, thundering, or soft, but the pieces on display in Resonance are created with the intention of halting any silence in the mind or heart of the viewer.
In astronomy, the word Resonance refers to a pair of planetary bodies whose orbital relationship can be explained through a pair of whole numbers. For example, in our solar system Neptune and Pluto are in resonance—for every three times that Neptune orbits the sun, Pluto does so twice. This connection is rare in our universe. It requires a draw to the same central body and a deep-seated connection among two worlds that are millions of miles apart. Similarly, the art on display in Resonance hopes to serve as a central body that the creative mind of the artist and the viewer can orbit around, regardless of the different worlds that they may exist within.
The goal of this creative exhibition is to provide the artists an opportunity to display the Resonance of their art and understand its ability to resonate with others across the community.