Munroe Gallery Show Focuses on Resilience

Munroe Center for the Arts presents Undaunted Mothers:  Stories of Tragedy, Resiliency and Hope.  This show brings together the work of mixed-media artists Sandra Mayo and Kathryn Graven. Ms. Mayo shines artistic light on Sara and Ruth, two women who fled the Holocaust, only to suffer further losses in the Argentinian Dirty War.  She uses the symbology of genograms to capture hereditary patterns and events like births, deaths, and immigration. “I consider my art a practice in storytelling,” says Ms. Mayo. “I am interested in families and their journeys through generations — how families evolve, thrive or collapse and the extreme circumstances that affect them are the threads and materials of interesting, rich stories.  I use the aesthetic language of genograms to depict these narratives.”  Ms. Graven's bright, colorful splashes of nature are a deliberate, sharp contrast to the unbearable sorrows the two women endured.  Throughout their ordeals, Ruth and Sara say they turned to nature for strength and encouragement. Through this visual juxtaposition of pain and joy, the artists explore ways to depict resiliency and hope.  In her mixed-media work, Ms. Graven tells new stories by repurposing old materials or found objects. Her bold, whimsical creations offer beauty and hope- the kind that sustained Sara and Ruth through unbearable horrors.  The show runs September 15th - November 15th.  An artist reception will be held on Thursday, October 19th at 6-8 in the evening, and is open to the public.