CONTAINED

Debra Cartwright and Barbara Ishikura

On view September 8th, 2023

Contained brings together artists Debra Cartwright and Barbara Ishikura for a two-person exhibition that explores the female body and female representation throughout history. Debra Cartwright examines the relationship between the black female body and American medical history, while Barbara Ishikura challenges the historically male gaze on the female nude by taking back ownership of the female figure in her artwork. By placing the female figure at the center of their art, both artists highlight the complex and multifaceted experiences of being a woman throughout history. Through their use of paint and mixed media, both Debra Cartwright and Barbara Ishikura explore themes of self-hood, intimacy, and myth creation. Their artwork offers a powerful reflection on the female experience and female role in art, history, and society.

Debra Cartwright's artwork blends the history of Western gynecology with the representation of Black womanhood. Cartwright's use of a muted color palette and abstraction initially seduces viewers, but as they look closer, they can see blood, flesh, and possibly organs. Her watercolors and mixed medium artworks address the painful history of using enslaved women as surgical test subjects in early gynecological medicine. Through her work, Cartwright honors the unnamed or later named enslaved women of James Marion Sims' medical studies. Her paintings function as a palimpsest of history, building upon the metaphor and practice of uncovering a history while adding more to it. She challenges the way bodies are viewed and hopes to alter her audience's perception of Black womanhood.

Barbara Ishikura's artwork explores the ongoing conflict of adhering to social norms across different social classes. She uses portraiture to depict the humor and pathos of the human condition, particularly regarding the female body and its navigation of social spaces in contemporary society. Ishikura’s female figures are portrayed in classical art historical poses while drinking cheap beer, smoking cigarettes, and surrounded by working-class paraphernalia. They also inhabit lush interiors with fancy dogs, suggesting a sophisticated lifestyle. Ishikura's artwork takes back ownership of the female nude, which was historically painted by male artists. She recreates compressed domestic spaces occupied by women, challenging cultural hierarchies and exploring notions of good and bad taste within social class. Her paintings juxtapose objects from high and low culture, illuminating the cultural hierarchies that we create.

Together, Debra Cartwright and Barbara Ishikura’s artwork offers a thought-provoking exploration of the objectification of the female body by re-examining loaded histories and cultural hierarchies in contemporary society.

Learn more about the artists