Emotional is physical in GVSU graduating student’s BFA exhibition
Artist Mackenzie Cargill’s exhibit “Uniforms for Emotional Labor,” at 307 South Division through the end of the week, addresses our need to attend to emotional well-being.
There’s a disparity between how we feel and what is expected of us. In her exhibition at 307 South Division, artist Mackenzie Cargill dissects and repurposes this alienation through wearable creations dubbed “Uniforms for Emotional Labor.” Each uniform, intricately hand crafted, is fit upon a wooden construction and designated a specific emotion (sadness, tenderness, anxiety, etc.). Large-scale photos of the artist dressed in her pieces line the wall. Through outfits and images Cargill presents us with her deeply personal reflections, and the bodily manifestations of those reflections. The physical is the emotional.
It would be easy to label these works as youthful sincerity, but Cargill’s uniforms ring too true to dismiss. She’s right — our need to attend to our emotional well-being frequently comes at the cost of external conformity. And while Cargill offers us insight into her own experiences, she does so in a way that evokes viewer empathy.
In “Uniform No. 2: Discomfort,” a tight, one-sleeved sack of matted wool stretches over wooden stilts. Thick, scratchy and constraining, the form is visually rich and uncomfortably tactile. “Uniform No. 3: Tenderness/Flaws” dangles upon a hanger, a loosely knitted pink cardigan paired with generic men’s underwear. In Cargill’s corresponding photograph, the webbed top lay upon her vulnerable flesh, and the gray undies offer security not unlike comfort food. “Uniform No. 6: Mental Weight/Over Thinking” was another personal favorite. Black tubes of netting anchored with rocks extend from a sweatered torso. The sag of each tendril becomes a burden that renders the body immovable.
I admit I wanted a bit more and a bit less from Cargill. She is willing to expose herself to the camera, so why not take the performative aspects a bit further? How does a body move in these clothes? How is emotional labor an action, not just an image or object? I’d also like to know more in terms of gender. Cargill inserts herself — her female body — into the work, and I want to know how this becomes essential to the way in which she engages her emotions and her work within our contemporary societal context.
I would like a little less from the labels. Cargill explains the intention behind each uniform, yet I think the work is strong enough to speak for itself. The verbal specificity of each label inhibits my sensuous understanding of each uniform.
Then there’s Uniform No. 4. A one-person store-bought tent hangs upon the wall alongside many of the photographs. Posing as a found object, the tent may address the theme that undergirds the exhibition, but it does so in a way that disregards the handmade care evident in the other uniforms. I’m not discounting the possible potency of this solitary shroud, but it belongs in a future exhibition that might spawn from Cargill’s present explorations.
In all, the exhibition is well-executed, and the work is good. It’s obvious Cargill has taken the time to look inward and ask herself what she needs and how she needs it. I think this is why we’re able to really relate to the uniforms. She’s honest with herself and honest with us, and that authenticity is what makes the work both accessible and challenging.
“Uniforms for Emotional Labor” is on display at 307 S. Division through December 9. A “Critical Dialog” event on Friday, December 8 includes a thesis presentation by Cargill and another BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) graduate, Kay Mayer, whose work is at Cerasus, just up the street from Cargill’s work. The event will provide a chance for attendees to see both exhibitions and discuss the work with the artist.
