"Ancestral Mirrors" Exhibit by Shanequa Gay (Visiting Galleries/Museums, Class of 2028)

            I visited Clark Atlanta's Trevor Arnett Art Museum to see Shanequa Gay's new exhibit titled "Ancestral Mirrors."

            In my favorite piece shown above, “La Pieta”, a 2015 oil painting on a wood panel, artist Gay uses a color palette of warm colors to depict the raw emotions of a son’s death. A woman covered in a sheet holds a dying boy, who the audience assumes to be her son, and a sharp contrast exists between the colors of the scene and the oak wood grain of the painting’s background.

            The grain of the wood shows continuous line movement throughout the composition and its muted colors emphasize the vibrance of the scene. The bright red circle emanating from his leg suggests to the audience that the boy has been shot, evoking remorse from viewers. The highlights on each figure’s facial structure give depth to the painting, and the texture of the paint strokes give a soft air to the colors on each piece of clothing. Gay’s decision to make this illustration a mixed media composition added depth to the scene and allowed her to play with color in a way she wouldn’t have been able to on a canvas. The way the color fades from the boy’s fingertips suggests that life is draining from out of his body and this aspect shows realism. I will definitely be following

- Alyssa Amaker