underFlesh:
Exploring Human Fragility and Resilience
2003 - 2008
Art, Spirit,Community is the catalogue essay written by Patricia Briggs for Ms. Nobbe's 2003 exhibition underFlesh, at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota.
This series was revisited and expanded by the artist from 2006 - 2008.
This series was revisited and expanded by the artist from 2006 - 2008.
Art, Spirit,Community
Patricia Briggs
During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, images associated with the mortality of the flesh and the cycle of life and death formed the central subjects of art. On display in churches and chapels throughout Europe and Byzantium, images of violent martyrdoms of saints, miraculous healings and resurrections illustrated sacred events at the same time that they presented viewers with scenes that suggested their own experiences of suffering with serious illness and encounters with death and dying. The images of suffering which appeared in the great altarpieces of the past were accompanied by messages of hope and renewal and served as a medium for the relief of suffering and sometimes helped in the healing process.
Although the specific subject of Kathryn Nobbe’s work is secular—she works with images documenting her breast cancer surgeries—and her visual vocabulary is thoroughly modern, many of her aesthetic goals recall those of earlier times. In her digital photography, painting, mixed media and installation, Nobbe presents meditations on her own encounter with deadly disease as well as her appreciation of the mysteries of life’s renewing forces and the interconnectedness of all things. Indeed, in this exhibition Nobbe weaves together a series of seemingly appositional concepts—science and spirituality, life and death, individual and community—which like the sacred art of the past presents the universal through the particular to forge a bond between the single individual and the larger community.
Although the specific subject of Kathryn Nobbe’s work is secular—she works with images documenting her breast cancer surgeries—and her visual vocabulary is thoroughly modern, many of her aesthetic goals recall those of earlier times. In her digital photography, painting, mixed media and installation, Nobbe presents meditations on her own encounter with deadly disease as well as her appreciation of the mysteries of life’s renewing forces and the interconnectedness of all things. Indeed, in this exhibition Nobbe weaves together a series of seemingly appositional concepts—science and spirituality, life and death, individual and community—which like the sacred art of the past presents the universal through the particular to forge a bond between the single individual and the larger community.
click any image to enlarge
Kaleidoscope I-XVIII
Nobbe’s core imagery originates in a series of photographic slides that the artist persuaded her surgeon to take during the progress of her mastectomy surgeries. These photographs document the way that surgery translates and transforms her body into cut skin, bits of flesh and biopsy specimens. Nobbe reconfigures these visceral and disturbing documents into contemplative, even pleasing images. Using computer graphics in combination with traditional manual processes like painting and collage to manipulate the original photographic sources, Nobbe produced gorgeous kaleidoscopic patterns of color and texture that look like snowflakes or medieval stained glass windows, and which paradoxically register the disturbing matter of their making while encouraging in the viewer a state of transcendence and well being. Kaleidoscope I-XVIII, a series of large photographic digital prints opens with fragmented glimpses of blue surgical blankets, bloody human tissue, plastic medical implements and sutures, which speak of the painful physical aspects of the artist’s surgery. As the series unfolds the patterns metamorphose into bursts of light that look like sacred mandalas or glowing haloes. With this abstract narrative Nobbe suggests a progression from physical pain to spiritual awareness, from despair to grace.
Kaleidoscope I-XVII (#1 ), installed as separate pieces each measuring 38' x 36'
Kaleidoscope I-XVIII (#2 - #5) exists in a number of sizes and contexts including: 30' x 293' and 12' x 164' (as one continuous piece) and 7' x 86' (as an accordion-style book)
click any image below to enlarge
Two Hundred Prayer Cards
Inspiration for Nobbe’s Two Hundred Prayer Cards comes from her knowledge of the historical and present-day uses of devotional cards. Originally handmade and often elaborately decorated with religious imagery, lace, and decorative boarders, devotional cards have been used for centuries in children’s religious education, exchanged as gifts, and used to remember special events. Drawn to the social and memorial aspects of their use Nobbe initiated a community project to produce her own secular version of these cards for use in her artwork. Each card features an abstract digital design drawn from the flowers the artist received while in the hospital and during her convalescence following surgery. After designing the pattern for the border of the cards Nobbe invited women and girls from her circle of friends, family, neighbors, and even her hospital and clinic to participate in producing the decorative borders in a traditional paper pricking process called ornare. Nobbe wrote directions, provided materials, hosted training sessions, and together with her collaborators has produced the 200 cards which make up this installation. Like the original holy cards, which are sometimes used to commemorate funerals, baptisms, weddings, participant dedicated their card to someone or something. Many dedicated their cards to friends and family members who have died or have been diagnosed with an illness, while others considered the process a form of prayer or meditation. Some simply used it as a way of sending positive energy to another person. Weaving together the thoughts and sentiments of all those who dedicated the cards, this installations is the visual manifestation of a powerful communal prayer.
Corpus
Nobbe presents a sequence of abstractions in Corpus I-VII which relate as much to the artist’s concern with the body as interest in paint, form, color and texture. In the initial images of the sequence one glimpses the silhouette of a breast, an incision, the vague outline of a bandage. As the series progresses the designs become increasingly non-representational as the artist explores the formal arrangement of the compositions and the relationships between the droplets of paint. As Nobbe works she says that analogies form between individual droplets of paint, and the cells and molecules that make up the tissue of her body. These purely abstract works are then at once formal studies in color, shape, and space, and Nobbe’s poetic vision into the substance of her own body.
Mandala II (Word Path)
Kaleidoscopic designs drawn from the slides of her surgeries appear as well in the round canvases that constitute the outer circle of the Mandala II (Word Path), an interactive installation inspired by an online thesaurus developed by Plumb Design.[1] With this piece Nobbe invites viewers to investigate the plethora of subtle meanings connected to just about any word. Viewers type a word into the computer terminal located in the gallery and watch related words cluster around it on the visual display at the center of the wall installation. Each word provided by the viewer serves as a kind of portal into the intricate web of linguistic significance, visually demonstrating the rich path of knowledge hidden within the words we often use unselfconsciously in our daily communications. Mandala II works collaboratively with the audience; the piece changes with the addition of each viewer’s word selection, responding to the interests of the community of viewers in addition to expressing her individual concerns.
[1] Plumb Design, Inc. designed the Visual Thesaurus using its Thinkmap software and the WordNet database developed by the Cognitive Science Laboratory at Princeton University. The Visual Thesaurus can be accessed via the internet and Plum Design has given permission for its use in this installation.
[1] Plumb Design, Inc. designed the Visual Thesaurus using its Thinkmap software and the WordNet database developed by the Cognitive Science Laboratory at Princeton University. The Visual Thesaurus can be accessed via the internet and Plum Design has given permission for its use in this installation.
conversations on mortality
VHS, 120 minutes running time
In the years that I have been working with imagery related to my cancer diagnosis I have heard many stories of illness from my viewers who are frequently compelled after seeing my work to recount their own stories of struggles with illness or the loss of a loved one to disease. In this video the memories and thoughts of my audience are woven into the exhibition.
Video Booth (Tell your own story...)
video booth and computer interface
technical consultation, software design and programming by Aimee Houser
Much like the installation as a whole, this segment of the exhibition is twofold: one part to share and another to inspire. Viewers are invited to step into the booth behind the reception desk outside of the gallery and share their own personal experience(s) with issues of mortality (life/death issues). A viewing and listening station was situated on a computer outside the booth.
Blessien
mixed media paintings
The Modern English word “Blessing” is defined as the infusion of something with holiness, divine will, or one's hopes. Originally, “Bless” comes from the Old English word "bletsian" which meant "to sprinkle with blood", evoking ancient forms of religious sacrifice.
To wound, to bless, to sprinkle with blood. As a breast cancer survivor, there is something about the intersection of these three meanings that seems to me to want to reveal some significant mystery of human experience.
To wound, to bless, to sprinkle with blood. As a breast cancer survivor, there is something about the intersection of these three meanings that seems to me to want to reveal some significant mystery of human experience.
