Inherited Traits: Gallery Response

Inherited Traits, the new art exhibit, included the relationship of families. I found Nina Katchadourian’s Genealogy of the Supermarket very humorous. I enjoyed seeing everyday name brands and looking how each member was matched up. The frames give the viewer a more personal touch, rather than viewing the icons as just advertisement. Katchadourian’s Accent Elimination is an interesting piece that shows Nina and her parents projected on 6 screens. Showing their efforts to imitate each other, Katchadourian’s intention is to show the importance of the cultural inheritance. The Nightgown Pictures creates a more personal touch by adding photographs of her mother, as she grew older. Revisiting the locations, she tries to represent her grandmother’s creative aspect. Heidi Kumao’s Transplant depicts Japanese Americans who were forced to camps in World War II. I thought it was amazing how she uses the projector to reflect different images by using the jar and paper onto the screen. Trace also uses the same method, depicting the struggling life Frederick Douglass lived during the time of slavery. Her Translator is mechanically built, showing a girl (composed of a bowl shaped body) in the middle going back and fourth between her nagging parents. Two different projections are emitted on the girl to enact the dispute between their relationships. I admired the fact that she did not hide the mechanics, but rather overly exposed them to show the complicity of girl’s situation. All of these works show the essence of family in a creative, unique way.