Reception: Jan 17, 2019, 3:30 – 4:30 PM
The Lionel Rombach Gallery will be showcasing work by artist, Kennady Schneider in her upcoming exhibition titled Seasoned. Kennady Schneider is an undergraduate student at the University of Arizona. She often uses her own likeness and performance to critique institutional racism and the Black Experience through her work.
This exhibition takes a critical look at the world of sports and the role of the Black body within this realm of entertainment. Schneider uses performance, appropriated images of herself, and portraits of Black athletes to highlight the athletic body as a vehicle for profit among institutions including (but not limited to) collegiate and professional leagues. Through her own experiences and background as a Junior Olympic and collegiate gymnast, Schneider relates fetishizing, spectacle, and investment of her own body to the historical exploitation of Blacks through slavery and systems-based institutionalization. The exhibition addresses not only physical requirements expected of elite-level athletes, but also the psychological adaptations that are required in order to condition and groom Black athletes into coachable (compliant) beings.