Introducing "Heartlines"

The current exhibition at the Julio Fine Arts Gallery is titled Heartlines, featuring artists Akea Brionne, Phylicia Ghee, and Savannah Wood. This exhibition corresponds to Messina's common text, The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. The Messina program at Loyola helps first-year students manage the transition into university life by focusing on interpersonal and intellectual growth.

This year’s common text, The Vanishing Half, provides students with many pathways to think about race, gender, identity, colorism, and homeland. At its core, The Vanishing Half explores the journey of a family. Through connection, interruption, and disconnection, the text examines the home not only as a place defined by cultural legacy but as a place where racial and generational trauma must be navigated amidst the formation and discovery of identity.

In this exhibition, artists Akea Brionne, Phylicia Ghee, and Savannah Wood pay homage to their family’s histories while grappling with cultural legacy. Themes of memory, racial, and generational trauma are woven in the fabric of their artwork.

When understanding the term "heartlines," we can think of palm reading and how it tends to reveal answers pertaining to the future, the unknown, and our fate. With this exhibition, I challenge you to ask yourself if our heartlines connect us to the future and our fate, or do they function in helping us understand the legacy of our past, or archive the love formed and traumas experienced in previous generations? To unearth and place the self, we must understand our connections to family. Where we come from, the hardships we overcome, and the love we receive help form our own personal journeys. Each artist in this visually stunning and heartfelt exhibition traces the heartlines of the generations before them to aid them in the grounding experience where connections and the journeys they face develop self-discovery.

Savannah Wood, Still from Hard to Get and Dear Paid for (Projection Cut), 2020, Digital video, 4:13 

The exhibition will run from March 13th through April 11th, 2023.

Join us for the opening reception on March 26th, from 6-8 p.m. in the Julio Fine Arts Gallery!

To learn more about the Gallery’s programs and current and past exhibitions, visit julianartgallery.com or call 410-617-2799. Follow us on social media @JulioArtGallery for updates!