Thousand MEs

Western Dress by Sarah Knights.
Western Dress by Sarah Knights.

ONE THOUSAND MEs is the name of the first solo exhibition by Sarah Knights.

In this show, hosted by Medulla Art Gallery from May 10 to 29, Knights used herself as the main subject to convey the idea of “sectionality,” to look at topics including racism, feminism, beauty, class, and religion, as a black woman.

She had been “obsessed with self” since she was studying visual arts at the University of the West Indies (UWI)­; using herself as the main object helped her deal with her insecurities, empathize with others, and find herself.

Artist Sarah Knights.

Knights added that she had never been a talkative person and found words limiting so it was easier for her to articulate her thoughts on canvas. Therefore, she painted what she saw in herself, and in others.

“This was something I always wanted to deal with. It has always been there in my head. You can’t help but see your reflection in the mirror. You see things you wish you could change, flaws, what you like or don’t like. You are able to talk about your concerns, issues, fears and insecurities. There are a lot of different things I wish I myself could change. I guess painting allows me that kind of freedom to manipulate... But also, I look at what other women might experience from talking to them, and paying attention to things online.”

Coretta can be viewed at Sarah Knights’ first solo exhibition, ONE THOUSAND MEs at Medulla Art Gallery from May 10 to 29.

The 35-year-old artist said she listened to a lot of pop music and paid attention to pop culture, in general, which influenced her work. In fact, she derived the name of the exhibition from her husband mis-quoting the lyrics of the Kanye West song, Stronger.

“Kanye speaks about one of me but 1,000 you’s, he spoke about his individuality, uniqueness etc. I wanted to speak to the opposite. I wanted to look at different ideals of what I am suppose to be based on society’s standards, ‘society’ being church, school, media... any group or institution. The word ‘I’ is relative. It is not a reflection on me but more a reflection of society.”

The Wall, one of the paintings that can be seen at the exhibition ONE THOUSAND MEs at Medulla Art Gallery from May 10 to 29.

She expressed these feelings, impressions and reflections through mixed media paintings which borrowed the stiff classical poses from women in the 1900s, and layered them with images of women from the present day.

She used found objects in her paintings, including paper and thread, because she liked to experiment with different materials. She also loved creating patterns and weathered, rough textures so she used collage and embroidery, and mixed acrylic paints with markers or pens on canvas.

Knights, a secondary school teacher, graduated from UWI in 2011, and contributed to a UWI alumni exhibition the next year. In 2012, she was approached to do a solo exhibit at an art gallery so, in 2013 she took a year off work to do research and develop ideas for the pieces that would eventually make up the exhibition that would become ONE THOUSAND MEs.

The execution of the work took over five years to complete approximately 35 paintings as she mostly painted on evenings after school. “All the work I have exhibited from 2014 to now were works for this exhibition. I have consumed myself with ideas for this body of paintings. From then to now I have not changed gears. Yes I am having an exhibition but I am still working on the same ideas and thoughts. The exhibition is not isolated. All projects that I have worked on are towards showcasing but is also a means for me to express myself.” Although she loves painting now, Knights said she only started to enjoy it at UWI when she realised she did not have to use representational colours but could chose her own colour scheme.

Previously, her associate degree in visual communication at John Donaldson Technical Institute focussed on graphic design. She credited UWI lecturers Kenwyn Crichlow, Anna Serrao, and Steve Ouditt for opening her eyes to the joys of painting.

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