Christa Donner: Re:Production
We begin the New Year with an exhibition by Chicago artist Christa Donner, opening Friday, January 9th.
Donner’s project Re:Production, is an exhibition that “re-imagines reproduction” through a wall installation, large scale drawings, a small-press zine and an animation made in collaboration with biologist and fellow artist Andrew Yang.
What role does the notion of birth play in our diverse conceptions of femininity? What feelings or fears arise out of it? How might pregnancy conflict with or alter our priorities? What sort of agency do we even have in directing our bodies, and to what lengths are we willing to go? Drawing on both the personal narratives of a diverse group of women and from the reproductive models of other organisms -- the Peach Aphid, Surinam Toad, Adactylidium Mite, Hydra, and the Mollusk Crepidula --Donner creates new visions of human reproduction during a time when fertility drugs and genetic modification seem to make all sorts of impossible things viable.
In re-imagining the capacity of the human body, Donner considers alternate sites and modes for pregnancy, fetuses within fetuses within fetuses and other concepts borrowed from alternate biologies found in nature, examining the fantastical and sometimes frightening consequences of confronting one’s own reproductive power. Whether a woman has raised her children to adulthood, is just beginning to consider pregnancy or has no plans to raise a family, Donner’s resulting imagery can easily be read as a metaphor for the multiplicity of feelings and fears around fertility and identity.
Christa Donner is a Chicago-based artist who uses drawing, installation, and participatory engagement to propose alternate models for the human body based on sensation and imagination. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including major projects and exhibitions for the ANTI Festival (Kuopio, Finland), Kravets-Wehby Gallery (New York, NY), POST (Los Angeles, CA), the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (Cleveland, OH), Wuthering Heights (Malmo, Sweden), and the Centro Columbo Americano (Medellin, Colombia). Donner’s art is interwoven with a wide variety of community-based projects, including zines, audio interviews and public workshops investigating body image, art and activism. More of her projects can be found online at www.christadonner.com
Donner will give an artist talk on January 29th at 6pm.
Links to Reviews & More:
Donner's Re:Production in the Chicago Reader
Donner on Tastes Like Chicken.com