Traumatica Dramatica
Safe Space by Meg Lionel Murphy
On a warm summer evening, my friend and coworker Anna and I walked the streets of Soho setting our sights on a new opening at Untitled Space. There was nothing to prepare me for what I would walk into. Outside of the name Meg Lionel Murphy- which I felt was really melodious and an ideal artist's name- I wasn’t familiar with her work but I was intrigued.
We had just finished a long day at our gallery providing hospitality and answering questions about our exhibition, which highlighted black experiences through the minds and mediums of various artists throughout the diaspora. I welcomed the reprieve of switching roles and enjoying this show.
Fire by Meg Lionel Murphy
“Traumatica Dramatica” greeted us at the front of the exhibition. As I read the title I thought to myself, “What a dark sense of humor.” Slowly making my way towards the back of the gallery to where my complimentary wine glass awaited me, I immediately felt at so small and crushed beneath the weight of the many people packing the small area and the subject of the works, domestic violence. The exhibition called to many of my curiosities, one being the use of the medium gouache. Using bright saturated colors used to portray women in the darkest of situations, Meg Lionel Murphy masterfully painted these tragic and violent situations in such an aesthetically beautiful way.
The choice to take pastel colors to portray scenes of abuse mirrored how as a society we diminish the trauma of women opting for a more aesthetically pleasing or stimulating perspective. We only take note as the proximity changes from stranger to kin or when the crime is far too shocking to overlook. When absentmindedly looking at the “pretty colors” the real subject starts to materialize. The pain is only bearable when viewed through rose colored lenses and even then, are the subjects truly seen for who they are? They are victims of circumstance rather than the typical weak feeble women that the media likes to portray most domestic abuse survivors to be.
In this time of deep disrespect and disregard for women and their bodies, I recall how I felt walking through the exhibit. To be seen, and to be validated. It was empowering and represented strength and determination. And throughout the vilest circumstances we possess the ability to grow and emerge victorious. Murphy painted each subject as a giant, and this isn’t figurative but a true testament of women’s ability to outgrow even the most oppressive circumstances.
NYC Dyke March 2022 Captured by Mel D. Cole
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
Whenever I think of the spineless cowards who simply decided on a whim to overturn the rights of millions of humans with uteruses, it makes my entire body recoil in disgust. When I think of the hypocrisy of each person who facilitated the demise of free choice and human autonomy it physically sickens me to know that as a society we are beholden to the outdated mindset of these degenerates who hold court presiding over issues that they have no physical connection to. All in the name of religious warfare that none of those bastards have clear convictions on. The last time they probably held a bible must have been when they were sworn into the circus they currently perform in.
This world can be incredibly ugly, but the beauty resides in the resiliency of uprising. The beauty is in the desire to view the world as it could be rather than how it is, and being resolved to change it. The current events have definitely inspired a plethora of artists to use their talents for advocacy, expression and artivism. Murphy’s exhibit has been heavy on my mind these days. And I look forward to seeing what she’s been cooking up in her studio. There’s absolutely no shortage of inspiration around.
NYC Dyke March 2022 Captured by Mel D. Cole tps://www.instagram.com/meldcole/