Paige Lizbeth Morris – A girl is a girl is a girl

A girl is a girl is a girl exhibition poster

Paige Lizbeth Morris – A girl is a girl is a girl

February 11 – 26*

The Anderson is pleased to present A girl is a girl is a girl from VCUarts Craft/Material studies alumni Paige Lizbeth Morris (MFA 2020).

Artist Statement

My work is an ongoing exploration of female agency and desire. It is well known that Western society uses visual pleasure as a means to determine womxn’s value and that cultural beauty standards are often employed in defining female success. This process turns womxn into commodities and reinforces notions of gender complementarianism. In an effort to refuse these presumed histories and connotations of womxn, I utilize the studio as a space to analyze my gendered performance; negotiating my relationship with the expectations set by the gender binary. This process offers insight into how my desires challenge the cultural mentality of non-men as secondary and how they may perpetuate it.

This body of work is informed by a collection of data that is culturally coded in femininity. These gendered gestures are compiled from classic mainstream movies, pop and rock songs, and materiality that denotes femininity. I assemble, disassemble, and reassemble the work to exploit the benign and insidious underlying message of our patriarchal past and present. This process is an active attempt to unlearn institutionalized gender norms and heteronormativity through acts of refusal. The result is an experiential exposé that unveils the sacrifice and labor demanded of politicized bodies.

Bio

Paige Lizbeth Morris (b. 1990; Allentown, PA) is an artist, writer, educator and fabricator with a foundation in glass. She received her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2020 and her BFA from Tyler School of Art + Architecture in 2012. Morris has exhibited work internationally in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Texas, and Tipperary, Ireland. Her work is included in New Glass Review #34, #41. She is a member of the Burnt Asphalt Family and sits on the Glass Art Society Board of Directors as the Student Representative.

* The exhibition was extended from 2/19 to 2/26.

paigelizbethmorris.com