After nearly six years since her last solo exhibition, Calvin College professor and art photographer Jennifer Steensma Hoag breaks her "solo" silence on her c.v. as she unveils a breathtaking and disturbing new body of work, Compromised Beauty.
This by far her most arresting work, which moves from the comfort of mysterious documentation into a narrative driven format where something has clearly happened to the environment and we are the survivors witnessing the aftermath. It is unclear what happened but what is clear by the yellow uniforms is that whatever is being collected on these landscapes is something from which humans must shield themselves.
And while we have become used to these types of suits via the most recent biological scourge of Ebola, what is eerie here is that we are unclear what happened since the land around us looks so wonderful. This is why these images are so spooky and must be experienced in person.
In addition to Compromised Beauty opening at Calvin College, there will be an exhibition of another set of prints from this collection at the University of Michigan until September 2015.
On Friday, Mar. 27, 1:30pm in Spoelhof, Room 150, Steensma Hoag will present a talk about the work. If you do visit the Calvin College Center Art Gallery be sure to also view Earthwork: Collected Clay from East to West, curated by Anna Greidanus, Professor of Art at Calvin College.
Admission: Free
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