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Montgomery to exhibit artwork in traveling exhibit
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Alan Montgomery, Dakota State University professor of art, will have two drawings in a traveling exhibit called, "The Map is not the Territory."
The exhibit is sponsored by Baksun Books & Arts and The Jerusalem Fund Gallery. It featuring Native American, Irish, and Palestinian artists and is scheduled to open Sept. 6 at The Jerusalem Fund Gallery in Washington, D.C. The theme of the exhibit is about the relationship between maps of specific areas and the reality of that area.
"When I first heard about `The Map is not the Territory' as a concept for an exhibition, which included ideas surrounding linkages to the Irish, Palestinians, and Native American cultures, and their connected histories and situations, I immediately responded to the call for entries," Montgomery said. "My two drawings revolve around shared histories that transcend language and cultural readings."
Montgomery began making paintings and drawings in the early 1990's in response to conflicts in the Middle East, Eastern Europe (Serbia-Croatia) and Northern Ireland.
"In Northern Ireland for example, a border was created to separate the majority of the Protestant north from the Irish Catholic republic. Peace lines/walls were erected in Belfast to separate Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods a block apart. The reality on the ground is always absent via the symbolic representation of that ground," Montgomery said.
"My work is motivated by intersections of political and lived space and lived experience. The history of these three cultures is shaped by the land and its imposed boundaries. The borders of territory via walls, fences, and political structures have created extreme situations where violence, oppression and sectarian conflict maintain a kind of status quo," he said. "What unites each of the three cultures is a desire to reclaim both the physical and the psychological space -- to redefine their identities and to move forward in the world. The power of each struggle and each shared experience is pivotal in the collective consciousness of each culture and its situation in the present."
Baksun Books & Arts was founded by Jennifer Heath in 1992 as a small press and independent curatorial project, dedicated to de-commodifying the word and to creating visual arts exhibitions that address issues of social and environmental justice. The Jerusalem Fund Gallery is the cultural program of The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development located in Washington, D.C.
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©Madison Daily Leader 2013
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