#JesuitMuseums: University of San Francisco

AJCU’s #JesuitMuseums series is back for the summer! Today’s post on Wounds by Mary Lou Grace Robison comes from the Thacher Gallery at the University of San Francisco.

Mary Lou Grace Robison, Wounds, 2019, oil painting.

Each spring, the Thacher Gallery at the University of San Francisco hosts an exhibition of student artwork, organized and curated by undergraduates in the Art History & Museum Studies Thacher Practicum class. The works in this year’s show, Unmuted, offer a student perspective on the pandemic experience through an immersive, digital format.

A recurring theme in the Unmuted exhibition is our connection to family. Mary Lou Grace Robison’s Wounds, an incredibly detailed rendering of her grandmother’s feet, is part of a series of work centered around her grandmother’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease. In her artist’s statement, Robison writes, “[…] expressing and honoring my grandmother’s life through my art has become an urgent focus for me. I have found that there is very little art surrounding the world of Alzheimer’s and its effect on the families of the victims. The silence surrounding this suffering must be broken.”

Robison’s work exemplifies the power of art to build empathy. It offers an intimate look at disease, suffering, and the effects of aging: issues that our society often turns away from. With her use of photo realism and the trompe l’oeil effect of her grandmother’s toes extending toward the viewer, we can’t help but be drawn into the painting.

Robison’s approach spares no detail, but it is also highly compassionate. Her love for her grandmother is apparent through her careful and painstaking execution. This highly tangible work shows us just how art can help to create understanding, heal wounds, and transcend the barriers we’ve all experienced during the pandemic.

Contributed by Nell Herbert, Gallery Manager at the University of San Francisco’s Mary and Carter Thacher Gallery.