Reinventing the Family

Just as every culture has a creation myth, each of our families creates its own mythology that changes over time. As we come of age, we gain stewardship of our family histories, adding our own spin and passing it onto to the next generation. Women primarily have been the keepers of family history, shaping the foundation of our traditions and identities. In a fascinating group show that expands on this custom, photographers Astrid Reischwitz, Gail Samuelson and Alysia Macaulay, as well as video artist Furen Dai, have crossed generations and mixed media to unravel and re-invent their family legends in distinctively different ways in “Family Outing” at 555 Gallery in Boston through July 9, 2016.

“Mink Stole” from the series All Dressed Up by Gail Samuelson (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

“Fireworks, 2016” from the series It’s A Mixed-Up World by Alysia Macaulay (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

“Forget-me-not” from the series Stories From the Kitchen Table by Astrid Reischwitz (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

In her series of composite photographs, Stories From the Kitchen Table, Astrid Reischwitz refers to both the place and manner by which family history has been passed down at the farmhouse of her youth in a small northern German village. Each piece is like an intricate quilt, anchored by an ancestral B&W photograph that Reischwitz combines with new color images that serve as an iteration of a theme. Occasionally featuring her daughter, meaningful family motifs such as needlepoint linens and flowers are used to stitch the panels together into visual odes. Narrative, palette and pattern unite Reischwitz’s fabrications in eloquent personal tributes that tie the past to the present.

“Prickly” from the series Stories From the Kitchen Table by Astrid Reischwitz (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

Reischwitz presents her first installation piece in this series, “Spin Club Coffee Table”, set with crisp linens and fine china, as if to receive the women for their monthly social meeting. The finery is disrupted with reminders of ancestors lost: crumpled or torn family photos (no, not real ones), napkins folded into Origami-like flowers, pansies planted in and painted on the coffee cups – pansies, the annual whose days are numbered – and everywhere, dirt, symbolizing not only the soil whose riches provide the potato crop but also the family’s final resting place. The piece is elegant and earthy, visually and sculpturally capturing both the chaos and continuity of life and death.

Installation view of “Spin Club Coffee Table” from the series Stories From the Kitchen Table by Astrid Reischwitz (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

Installation view of “Spin Club Coffee Table” from the series Stories From the Kitchen Table by Astrid Reischwitz (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

“NYU, Class of ‘48” from the series All Dressed Up by Gail Samuelson (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

In Gail Samuelson’s series All Dressed Up, she uses herself as the channel through which she breathes life back into elderly or deceased loved ones by dressing in the clothing and accessories they left to her. Samuelson’s quietly engaging portraits are not only a way of paying tribute to her mother, her aunt and her father, but also of acknowledging and incorporating their physical and psychological hereditary traits. In adorning herself in their garments, Samuelson’s clothing and fabric becomes a metaphor for the social glue that women have traditionally provided for their families and communities.

“My Father Sinclair” from the series All Dressed Up by Gail Samuelson (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

“Veil 2” from the series All Dressed Up by Gail Samuelson (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

In a related series, Keep It For Luck, Samuelson creates poignant photographs of significant objects belonging to the same close relatives. “Silk Blouse” is a section of the wedding dress Samuelson’s mother “didn’t love because it wasn’t white or fancy.” But Samuelson was drawn to the fragility that caused it to break apart with handling, signs of wear that are potent symbols of her mother’s life. Each of the artifacts that Samuelson has chosen to immortalize are treasured clues to her own family story. There is a lovely maturity to this series, an unspoken acceptance of our family history and, ultimately, a coming to terms with ourselves.

“Silk Blouse” from the series Keep It For Luck by Gail Samuelson (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

“Behind Parisian Doors, 2012” from the series It’s A Mixed-Up World by Alysia Macaulay (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

Alysia Macaulay visually layers color photographs of her children with places that hold significance for her family to create 3-dimensional shadow boxes in her series It’s A Mixed-Up World. In the process of combining perfectly realistic images, Macaulay juxtaposes incongruous locations, time periods, perspectives and scale to create entirely fictitious scenarios. The effect is at once enchanting and disorienting.

“Under The Bridge, 2012” from the series It’s A Mixed-Up World by Alysia Macaulay (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

Macaulay’s pieces acquire a depth and dimensionality that is magnified by the drop shadows in each box, an enhancing effect you really have to see in person to appreciate. With sophisticated graphics and an invigorating sense of composition and color, Macaulay’s boxes deliver a dynamic punch. But there’s also a touching backstory to each piece and Macaulay uses family correspondences, along with metaphorical elements like water and light, to nuanced emotional effect. Some of Macaulay’s traditional photographic images from earlier series are also on view at the gallery, expressing the prevalent themes of vulnerability and possibility in her work.

“Not Enough Time, 2013” from the series It’s A Mixed-Up World by Alysia Macaulay (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

“Untitled, 2010” from the series Night Light by Alysia Macaulay (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

Video artist Furen Dai presents two short videos. In Messages Through Generations, which she performs silently with her mother, ancient Chinese rules of behavior for women are written on a clear plexiglass box by the mother sitting inside it, followed by the daughter, who traces her writing on the outside of the box, back and forth, until the box becomes opaque with writing, the mother trapped blindly inside. This cleverly composed allegory for creating alienation between generations, through the handing down of rules written by neither one, is an intriguing object lesson across cultures and eras.

Video still from “Message Through Generations” by Furen Dai (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

Families represent our first social circle, one whose importance far outweighs our youthful years. With its mysterious power extending throughout our lives, it is no wonder so many artists mine its influences. 555 Gallery’s presentation of “Family Outing” gathers four artists who explore the ancient ideas of family in refreshing and inspiring new ways, creating the latest generation of family myths.

“Around the Corner” from the series Stories From the Kitchen Table by Astrid Reischwitz (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

For hours, directions and more information about this show, go to: http://www.555gallery.com/exhibitions/#/current-exhibition-family-outing/

Feature Image: “Spin Club” (detail) from the series Stories From the Kitchen Table by Astrid Reischwitz (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).

“Untitled, 2013” from the series Summer Lull by Alysia Macaulay (courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery, Boston).