art exhibition: artist as model | model as artist

Opening Reception: January 11, 6:30 p.m. Exhibition dates: January 11 - February 15 Leading with a desire to return to the materiality of the printed image, artist Brittany Brooke Crow creates photographs of herself, tears them, and rephotographs herself with the fragments. “I am curious as to how the process of collage disrupts the gaze and whether or not it influences how viewers interpret my (literal) body and body of work,” Crow said. “What am I risking by tearing myself into pieces? What am I exposing and what might it reveal about my performance of gender and sexuality?” "Model as artist | artist as model" expands upon Crow’s three-year exploration of the tangle of historical tropes, cultural expectations, and personal control that comes with representing the queer, female body. More generally, Crow uses image-making to confront her fear of vulnerability while exploring intimacy, ways of seeing, and the expansive possibilities of creating photo-based art. Support for "artist as model | model as artist" is generously provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Iowa Arts Council, which exists within the Iowa Economic Development Authority. Crow was previously named an Iowa Arts Council Artist Fellow in 2021. The artist pursues her practice out of Mainframe Studios in Des Moines.