100 Days, 2016-2017
Exhibited online with Humble Arts Foundation and at Feast Arts Center, Tacoma, WA in June 2017 in a solo exhibition titled 'The evening and the evening out.'
“The 2016 presidential election results left many feeling a wave of shock and unease. Seattle-based artist Serrah Russell channelled this disquiet into 100 Days of Collage, a series of daily meditations reflecting on the past and the ambiguous future of a newly changing world. They are simple, yet remarkably layered - fusing disparate images from issues of National Geographic and various fashion magazines to build a narrative that combines defeatist confusion with a glimmer of molotov, hope and resistance. ”
ARTIST STATEMENT:
I was getting settled into our new home, complete with a studio all my own. I was ready to start seeing what I could make within this new space, but unsure where to begin. Then the results of the 2016 election came in. I was suddenly feeling unexpected emotions and seeking a way to process them. A friend of mine had begun a project of 100 Days of Painting and it was inspiring to witness how therapeutic it felt to her process of creation and to me as a viewer. It inspired me to begin my own project. For 100 days, I would make collage on a daily basis and for accountability, share a piece daily on Instagram. This daily ritual became for me a new practice of creating. I began to see making as an act of meditation, a ritual for reflection, and a place to speak.
I believe that my work feels most true when it comes from a personal place, influenced by my surroundings and my experiences and during this time, I was feeling a lot and was compelled. To take in the news of the day, all the change and tension and to have a place to put it back out, to release it. It was a means for self-care, a way to be heard, to listen and to understand. And so I began. And so I continued. I admit that there were days that I felt like I had nothing to say or that what I was saying something no one wanted to hear. But there was never a day that I regretted spending the time, in the quiet of the night in my studio, hoping that my small voice would encourage others to speak a little louder.