Encountering Masculinity by Jocelyn Salaz

Artist Jocelyn Salaz shares: “Encountering Masculinity explores masculinity through the lens of the performative theory of gender. I examine men’s clothing, beginning with my own family for a generational perspective and then men from different world ethnicities and geographies. I ground my exploration in clothing because of my interest in how textiles create a boundary between intimate space and the outside world, creating a space of resistance. I collect textiles that I observe in participants’ clothing to create quilted pieces, cutting apart pieces of patchwork and sewing them back together, placing seams from the back of one set of patchwork into the front of current patchwork, demonstrating my own labor, referencing labor movements in the textile industry, and making visible the intersection of capitalism with masculinity. Interviews with participants inform the quilts’ forms and free-motion quilting details. I create movement and space by using mobiles to suspend the pieces, informed by Emmanuel Lévinas’s ethics and Latin social dance. Lévinas’s ethics are based on a face-to-face encounter, when we acknowledge the Other and our obligation to their well-being, above our own freedom. Latin social dancing is a relationship of bodies in space with an obligation to partners and others on the dance floor. While lead and follow roles have historically been gendered as masculine and feminine, respectively, people are now beginning to dance with no regard to gender. As in the ethical encounter in which we cannot assume gender, dancers cannot anticipate movement but must rather be present and respond to physical communication from their partner. As participants move in the installation space, they will [be invited to] explore and question masculinity based on the fabrics, textures, and shapes they see in combination with the ephemerality of their arrangements.”

As part of Jocelyn’s Residency, she led workshops for Harwood Art Center’s Summer Art Camp (ages 8-10) and Adult Art School program (18+). Participants in these workshops created paper dolls through the process of figure study and collage. They were introduced to artists who create paper dolls and fashion designers from diverse backgrounds. Participants were asked to consider how they dress themselves for functional and aesthetic purposes and explore different facets of their own identities, and they were given the opportunity to include their work from these workshops in Jocelyn’s culminating exhibitions.

Each fall for thirteen years, Harwood’s Galleries are devoted to artists working at the intersections of creative expression and social justice. In 2021, for the occasion of Harwood’s 30th Anniversary, we expanded this offering and formally established our first official annual residency program.

Harwood’s residency program supports the creation of new, original, and experimental projects and their culminating public exhibitions, by artists who work at the intersections of art and social inquiry. The resident artist is resourced with a private studio at Harwood for the duration of their year long residency, 2 six week exhibitions, project, promotional, and professional support from our staff, and honoraria to support their time, materials and creative work.