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Exhibition Review: Peel Off the Surface, Curated by Yvena Despagne

Alyssa Alexander

Peel Off the Surface, an art exhibition about and by women, highlights the complexities of being a woman, based on the female’s perspective as both the subject and creator of art.

Written by independent curator, writer and cultural worker, Alyssa Alexander.

Peel Off the Surface, a recent group show curated by Yvena Despagne at Triangle Loft in the Meat Packing District during Women’s History Month 2022, explored the myriad perspectives of women who have in one way or another transformed throughout the pandemic. Through painting, sculpture, and mixed media works, the artists in Peel off the Surface mix personal history with unique approaches to art-making, a common thread of introspection linking each piece to the next.

Despagne conceived the exhibition of all female-identifying artists as she ruminated on her own transitions over the pandemic. “Now that we all had the time to slow down and really sit with ourselves,” she explains, “who are we really, underneath it all”? That prompt took form in an array of works that were as exuberant as they were assiduous. Mekia Machine’s abstracted figures move across the canvas in bright swaths of color as Tanda Francis’s ink-colored symmetrical forms unfurl nearby. Both women deciphering outside forces and what past experiences mean for the present, work in very different mediums to achieve forms that mirror the fluidity of time and the vastness of what the future holds when we take time to reflect and heal. Francis’s artistic ethos is also grounded in turning to African ancestral rituals and customs to deal with contemporary conflicts. This ancestral presence is echoed in the sculptural work of Heather Williams. Her Witnesses installation places our ancestors, though imagined in their representation, in the space as careful watchmen. As Black people we are often tethered in one-way or another to the concept of the afterlife and transitioning, and this collective memory often takes on a protective quality - uplifting us in times of self-doubt.

Symbolism also weaves its way through the show in a number of the artist’s practices. Nichole Washington’s photography based work takes on new meaning when layered with mark making inspired by Egyptian hieroglyphs and Adinkra symbols from West African culture. Manifestations of an imagined space of healing, the works serve as moments for personal exploration, prompting the viewers to dig beyond what they see on the surface. Phaidra Sterlin’s dynamic canvases, center the dutch-oven pot as a marker of cultural familiarity. Migrating from Haiti in recent years - and further acclimating to life as a now Hatian-American - has permeated both her personal and creative lives. The repeating image of the pot across expressionist-like brush strokes references the commonality of culture across the diaspora but also signals a possible “new recipe” for the roles of women.

Among the artists who worked figuration, there was careful attention paid to the narratives presented within the works. Ideas around autonomy and body positivity in Christina Nicola’s sensual portraits collided with moments of sisterhood and support in paintings by Nathalie Jolivert. Subdued renderings by Pascale Monnin complement a dynamic large-scale mixed media work by Brazilian artist Raphaela Braga. Those working more abstractedly gravitated towards texture and color. Mixed media works by Jaleeca Yancy and Marjani Jones, as well as textile and mirror works by Traci Johnson, brought moments of joy and optimism to a show centered on women finding themselves in the midst of uncertainty. 


Photographs by: Mougabe St. Louis

Exhibiting Artists:

Learn more by downloading the press release here.

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