Image: Vanessa German, American, b. 1976.
sometimes.we.cannot.be.with.our.bodies., 2017. Mixed-media installation.
Image courtesy of the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA. Photographed by Tom Little.
Vanessa German is a visual and performance artist based in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Homewood. Homewood is the community that is the driving force behind German’s powerful performance work, and whose cast-off relics form the language of her copiously embellished sculptures. As a citizen artist, German explores the power of art and love as a transformative force in the dynamic cultural ecosystem of communities and neighborhoods. She is the founder of Love Front Porch and the ARThouse, a community arts initiative for the children of Homewood.
sometimes.we.cannot.be.with.our.bodies. is an immersive installation of sculpture and sound that originated at the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, in 2017, and is being reimagined in The Fralin. In the artist’s own words, “this work is a dimensional living reckoning. the living reckoning is bold,erruptive,disruptive work against systems & pathologies that oppress & subvert overt & covert violence onto & into the lives & humanity of marginalized people on this land.” German will be in residence in March, working with students and community members, creating art, poetry, and understanding. The work will travel to The Union for Contemporary Art, as part of the annual Wanda D. Ewing Commission in September 2019.
This exhibition is made possible through generous support from the UVA Arts Endowment, through the Office of the Provost and the Vice Provost for the Arts, and the Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights at the University of Virginia.
The Fralin Museum of Art’s programming is made possible through generous support from The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation. We also wish to thank our in-kind donors: WTJU 91.1 FM and Ivy Publications LLC’s Charlottesville Welcome Book.