Freedom 2018

Curator: Up next, we have Felice House’s painting, "Freedom," completed in 2018. It's an oil on canvas, primarily using impasto. Editor: It feels hopeful. The subject’s gaze is directed just off center, and the brushwork around her is very loose, suggestive, almost like she’s on the verge of stepping out of the painting. Curator: That sense of stepping out seems to echo House's project, Daughters of the American Revolution, which sought to insert women into a visual history that often sidelined them. She’s making a statement about presence. Editor: Absolutely. And that presence is laden with symbols. The olive branch she holds – historically, a sign of peace and victory. Could this freedom she embodies represent inner peace or a hard-won victory over adversity? Curator: Both interpretations are potent, especially when considering the figures usually dominating monumental spaces throughout history. This more introspective take on freedom provides an interesting challenge to how public space is used, and who gets remembered. Editor: You know, the composition too guides how we might approach this, this figure holds nature so tenderly. Could she also be representing some aspect of the freedom that comes from being deeply connected with nature? Curator: That reminds me of art activism arising in recent years to counter narratives around climate change. And the backdrop lends itself to this, a horizon in soft, muted hues, perhaps vulnerable. Editor: Precisely! So, the symbolism combined with the soft color palette moves me, offering a space for reflection. What does freedom really mean? Curator: For me, House challenges us to interrogate whose freedoms have been historically valorized, and at what cost. The work asks us to expand traditional ideas of power to include introspection, vulnerability and community. Editor: Yes, leaving one to contemplate not only what it means to be free, but the nuanced means by which to obtain that freedom.