“Speak Your Peace, on view in the Court Gallery, is organized in collaboration with For Freedoms, which started in 2016 as a platform for civic engagement, discourse, and direct action for artists in the United States. Inspired by Norman Rockwell’s 1943 paintings of the four universal freedoms articulated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1941—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear—For Freedoms seeks to use art to deepen public discussions of civic issues and core values, and to clarify that citizenship in American society is deepened by participation, not by ideology. For Freedoms is part of a rich history of artists employing means of mass communication to provoke political discourse. For Freedoms believes art, and artists, play an important role in galvanizing our society towards a more representative and transparent government. [...]
In tandem with 50 State Initiative, the William Paterson University Galleries showcases artwork by Hugo Bastidas, Monica S. Camin, Dominique Duroseau, Gladys Grauer, Caren King Choi, and Raymond E. Mingst, who give voice to marginalized and underrepresented communities and individuals. Using mixed media, painting, works on paper, and found objects, these artists engage issues such as discrimination, racism, colonialism, immigration, and assimilation while seeking justice and equality for all. These artists reexamine representation, in some cases using the genre of portraiture, as a means to disrupt the invisibility of minorities, contest the pervasiveness of racial stereotypes, and engender a more inclusive worldview. […]
Monica S. Camin presents a portrait of America in her graphite drawing, Conceptual America (2017). She depicts the costume of a superhero as a commentary on the nation’s omnipresent power yet the outfit is only half adorned with stars to suggest that the country’s identity remains somewhat undefined. “I reflect on what it is to be an American; I respond—as an immigrant, as a woman—to the racial and gender injustices, and forge hope for a better future,” she says of her work. Camin was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and currently divides her between Fair Haven, New Jersey and Houston, Texas. She studied painting at the Paula A. Sarmiento Art Academy in Olivos, Argentina and the Manuel Belgrano Art University in Buenos Aires. In New York City, she studied sculpture at the Art Students League and The New School. She has exhibited national and internationally, and her work is included in numerous private collections .”
Excerpted from the Press Release
William Paterson University Galleries
300 Pompton Road
Wayne, NJ 07470
