Kith And Kin: Things Well Known
Kith and Kin: Things Well Known, a two-person exhibition organized by Wave Pool’s 2024 Curatorial Resident, Lindsey Cummins, is an exploration into the collective significance of interpersonal relationships and their connection to place within the Ohio River Valley region. In the works of artists Rachael Banks and Kacey Slone, concerns surrounding family, home, folklore, and the passage of time find resonance in ephemeral and ordinary moments.
Works in the exhibition touch on the interdependence between person and place as well as within communal structures. Familiar domestic moments are tenderly memorialized such as in Slone’s “A Friend for the Unsent” and Bank’s “I only fear God.” The artists’ work calls to mind the overwhelming and often under-acknowledged impact of closeness. Reflections surrounding immediacy in all its forms become stories through which the two artists imagine and reimagine states of belonging. Grappling with who they are, through where they are and who they’re with, both Slone and Banks traverse close quarters with a soft touch—neither surrendering to sentimentality nor indifference.
In both artists’ work there is an ode to the region, one that spans further than the big cities and the Appalachian mountains. Slone was born in rural Indiana, and has spent time outside the state before returning home. Banks was born and raised in Louisville but primarily photographs her family on their Bagdad, KY property.
This exhibition attempts to challenge stereotypes that have been set and negotiated amongst artists' who work in the region. While place and the communities who come to inhabit it remain integral, Kith and Kin challenges the way artists and their work have been narrowly situated within discourse on the region, constricting them down to exemplars of a greater American Western mythology that is fascinated with the iconography of rural life.
About the Curatorial Resident:
Lindsey Cummins (she/her) is a Louisville, KY based Independent Curator. Lindsey and her life partner El Bruner operate a curatorial studio, “Kudzu jelly” developing exhibitions nomadically throughout the region. In 2020, Lindsey founded Printed, a fiscally-sponsored project whose primary initiative is an annual zine publication. Lindsey works at Great Meadows Foundation, a non-profit that awards travel grants to Kentucky artists. Lindsey’s recent curatorial projects include a traveling zine exhibition, "Papertrail,” shown at Carbon Copy Gallery (Louisville, KY) and the Print Room (Aberdeen, Scotland), which features a site-specific hanging installation of over 300 zines collected from artists around the world, and “Slump” shown at ArtPortal (Louisville, KY). Lindsey received her education at the Hite Art Institute and currently serves on the Board of the Portland Museum and the SNAP Art Foundation.
About the Artists:
Rachael Banks lives in Northern Kentucky. She is an artist and educator. Her research interests include folklore, ecology, and epigenetics. Rachael's work addresses trauma and nature as central to relationships and experiences with her community. She compulsively photographs deer and black dogs.
Kacey Slone was raised in a cornfield in Southern Indiana. She received a MFA in Intermedia at the University of Texas at Arlington. Her work investigates identity, memory, and how place affects one's belonging. By using familiar objects, Slone hopes to connect with others through collective memory. She recently co-founded JuniorJr, a Risograph press/studio, with long time friend and colleague Kathryn Combs. Kacey teaches at Indiana University Southeast, Auburn University and works as the Gallery Manager for Harrison County Arts.
Kith And Kin: Things Well Known will be on view at Wave Pool from May 11th - June 22nd, 2024.
