As the U.S. Supreme Court attempts to diminish people’s rights to bodily autonomy, two artists in Seattle strive to expand the definitions of womanhood and power.
Located at 303 S Jackson St., ARTS at King Street Station is an inviting brick space with marble floors and pipes and ducts overhead. Among the many sculptural and figural pieces displayed through the next few months, Hanako O’Leary’s fibrous mass, like a giant spider web, immediately entraps the viewer’s gaze in her installation “Yomi.”
“Izanami” features a row of ceramic war masks, reminiscent of Noh theater masks, which appear to stare fiercely from the wall, but they are eyeless. Instead, they have horns, ears and an unmistakably vaginal slit in the middle. The sculpture “My Mothers” depicts a ring of women from the back, their heads the opening from which all human life emerges.
Working in oil, Molly Vaughan looks at viewers unflinchingly and mostly unclothed in her “Self-Portrait in Green Chair” and “Self-Portrait Friday Night 7:52 PM” in her exhibit “My Body.” A colored pencil sequence depicts her gender-affirming surgical journey. Bulls, geese, and transgender figures mingle in unexpected combinations in Vaughan’s “After Boucher” collection, inspired by the 18th century artist Francois Boucher.
O'Leary and Vaughan have created a welcoming and challenging collage of womanhood through the art on display at King Street Station. ARTS at King Street Station is open on the sixth floor of the station, Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Both artists' work is on display until July 7.
Andrea Kreidler is a contributing writer.
Read more of the May 25-31, 2022 issue.