Exhibits & Events

Material Voices is a two-person exhibition of Annette Cords’ Jacquard tapestries and G. Farrel Kellum‘s sculptural works that connect through their visual references to an urban aesthetic while investigating deeper issues of marginalized identities and the production of visual culture. Utilizing reference points of labor, binary systems, and mark-making, Cords and Kellum give voices to individuals who are often relinquished to their collective identity.

For Cords, these themes tie into her interest in weaving: a pervasive, common, and historically undervalued process. Weaving often functioned as a form of communication, but one where the designer was left unnamed and forgotten in the annals of history. In her smaller weavings, Cords reworks the historical context and the weave structures of traditional American patterns called Overshot. Her larger tapestries were made using the Jacquard loom. Unlike other types of looms, each warp in the Jacquard moves independently, allowing not only for the fabrication of modern multilayered tapestries but also pushing the boundaries of the visual language of weaving.

Kellum’s work utilizes the vernacular of the street to highlight individuality lost within culture. Kellum’s surfaces are heavily layered with splashes, drips, written words, and binary code, with each layer obscuring the previous. The resulting surfaces capture the inspiration behind street graffiti – leaving evidence of one’s existence who will otherwise be forgotten. As a nod to the erased history of slave artists, Kellum’s work strives to balance those prior stories with the ones of the present. Kellum’s specificity in materials: afro picks, vinyl records, and burlap rope, alludes to ideas of passage and a broken heritage in his work.

Cords’ and Kellum’s works foregrounds the layering of words and symbols; the collaged messages that allow us to see some things and not others. It also engages with broader questions. Who owns and manages the street—our public space? Who in it is remembered and who is forgotten? And, how do they craft their message?

This show can be viewed at the InLiquid Gallery every Wednesday through Friday between 12-6pm, and Saturdays between 12-5pm, from October 27th – December 4th. There will be a reception open to the public for Second Thursday, November 11th, from 6-8pm. Appointments can be made on Mondays and Tuesdays by calling our office at (215) 235-3405 or booking an appointment here.

A profile on Annette’s tapestries published on Riot Material! Read Restless Threads: The Tapestries of Annette Cords by Jill Connor here