“What about you is invisible?” All elements of the “Revisibility” exhibit on display at the University Library Art Gallery start with this question, with exhibit visitors invited to add their own answers on postcards displayed on one gallery wall.
Among the responses: “My feelings;” “Grief, loss. Hold all the things, and cover with a smile;” “Disability;” and “Everything … the real me.”
Artist and curator Emily Hostutler facilitated discussions with community partners at Sonoma State, in New York City and Oakland, and with the Santa Rosa Violence Prevention Program, then asked each person to create a portrait of how they feel invisible to others. Nearly 100 resulting frames, images, and audio segments have been added to the collection and re-curated for each show.
Hostutler, a lecturer in the Sonoma State English department, has led EOP cohorts in service-learning projects and Koret Scholars in completing a mural project for the nonprofit Petaluma Bounty.
“As a committed artist, educator, and community engagement facilitator, I’m always looking for ways to merge those worlds,” she said. After participating in a 10-month International Experience Design Certificate program with 12 other artist innovators, Hostutler said her concept began to take shape.
She spent six months workshopping and learning about collaborative art installations, ethical and thoughtful ways to facilitate conversations, and art exhibition. With the support and collaboration of her colleagues, Hostutler’s first workshop was with students in English department classes.
“The conversations were phenomenal. They are the magic,” she said. “The students’ reactions confirmed for me that collaborative art-making is healing, profound, and worthy.”
Having traveled to Broadway and an art collective in Oakland, the “Revisibility” show has come back to Sonoma State and will be in the University Library Art Gallery through December 13.
“The alignment is perfect,” said Kaitlin Springmier, Faculty Chair of the University Library and head of the Library’s Art Committee, “since our gallery serves as an exhibit space for faculty and staff who are creators or curators. We also provide direct experience for SSU students like those enrolled in SSU’s Museum and Gallery Methods minors.”
Hostutler has designed academic materials and cross-discipline lesson plans for those who want to fold the visit to this particular show into their course curriculum.
“It’s my deepest hope that contributors and viewers of the installation will feel they are part of a beautiful, growing reciprocal art piece that’s representing visibility in all its forms," Hostutler said.