The Oracle Said “Be Still”

by Tim Brown, Hillyer Director

The exhibition “The Oracle Said ‘Be Still’,” curated by Renée Stout, on view at IA&A at Hillyer from October 7–October 29, 2023, embraces a paradox that recognizes the value of stillness without eliminating the possibility of “speaking truth to power.” The idea for the exhibition was taken from a print that Renée Stout worked on during the height of the COVID pandemic. The work was prompted by DC gallerist George Hemphill whose intention was to keep art alive and accessible during a time when people were less likely to engage with art. By evoking the oracle, Stout resonated with something happening in the universe that compels us to be still. In the work, Stout depicted the oracle in the form of a disembodied head with a speech bubble uttering the phrase that would later become the underlying concept for her exhibition. 

The Oracle Said Be Still

Generally speaking, an oracle is a person or thing that provides insight into the future, a portal through which the gods speak to everyday people. Stout presented the oracle as an all-encompassing voice that compels everyone to hit a “reset button” and reflect on the challenges we face, so that we can act in a more informed way. During her conversation with Camille Brown, Assistant Curator at The Phillips Collection, Stout cited a passage from her notebook which guided her preparations for the exhibition:

“Life is fragile. Nature is fragile. Democracy is fragile. These truths can get buried behind the distractions and noise of daily life. One of the lessons COVID presented, which some people recognized while others did not, is that sometimes the universe needs for us to be still, so that we can take the time to ponder, become aware, and make valuable connections between events that are happening all around us that affect us all either directly or indirectly. Sometimes quiet is required to see clearly and listen intently, so that the universe can bestow its natural order upon things and restore the balance that it is always seeking to create. The oracle said, ‘be still’.”

While stillness is a focal point, Stout did not intend for it to be viewed in opposition to political action. As someone who is known for her political activism (if you follow her on social media), Stout views stillness as a liminal space, a spiritual, intellectual, and somatic space that is not dormant, but active—a wellspring from which human thought and action is made possible. 

First and foremost, Stout is a practicing artist based in DC, so she set out to identify other artists in the area whose work embodied the same spirit and ideas she had in mind for the show. As someone described as a “do-it-yourself conjurer,” Stout’s approach to selecting artists was not unlike the “Spirit Detector,” a mixed media work she created in 2014. She “detected” the spirit of these fellow artists—root conjurors—who she felt had the capacity to give voice and visual form to the stillness that nurtures us through challenging times.

The exhibition features 8 artists: Sharon Farmer, Joyce Wellman, Ellyn Weiss, Elaine Qiu, Cianne Fragione, Cheryl Edwards, Adrienne Gaither, and Trevor Young. Stout chose four photographs by Sharon Farmer: three of Bernice Fergerson, and one with the grave of Medgar Evers. Stout described these works as bookends for the exhibition, symbolizing the cyclical nature of life and death, joy and sadness, undergirded by the silence of the human spirit to sustain us over generations. Stout also explains why Fergerson was chosen as the signature piece for the exhibition:

“One of the reasons why I picked this work was the synchronicity—her dress had all these O’s on it and then the hula hoop forms an O—she is the oracle.”

Sharon Farmer

Stillness and the oscillation between abstraction and material form is manifested in ways that vary in the works by each artist in the exhibition. “Crossing,” a painting by Elaine Qiu, reverberates with fractals of light that seem to break through the cacophony of societal noise, leaving us in the interstices of silence that compel us to be still amid the confusion. Cheryl Edwards is summoned into the stillness with “The Old Nubian” through her use of pulp painting, embedded with Mexican milagros metals to soothe the spirit and pave the way for self-decolonization. Cianne Fragione is inspired by “Fragments of Carrara” marble that embodies the primacy of hue and form that speak to you directly, uninterrupted by “noise” and artificial mark-making. Adrienne Gaither’s “Comin’ Thru” is part of a series called “Meditations on Brown,” color field landscapes that serve as a form of escapism as she reimagines a new place of possibility. 

Sharon Farmer, Cheryl Edwards, Adrienne Gaither, Elaine Qiu, Cianne Fragione, Joyce Wellman, Trevor Young, Ellyn Weiss

Inspired by climate change, Ellyn Weiss’s “Form-Undentified Specimen 21” is a reflective response to ice receding in the north pole, using wax as a corollary to the inverse effect of flatness and its emergence as a rising man-made form. Joyce Wellman has two etchings in the show (“Third Eye” and “Untitled Sky”) that are created through stream of consciousness, conjuring in the process undersea creatures and a third eye with powers of perception beyond ordinary sight. And finally, Stout’s hoodoo premonitions led her to the work by Trevor Young. Young’s “Hub” explores the power of man-made things by taking them out of their context and re-presenting them as meditations on abstraction and mysticism. 

Installation shots

One cannot fully understand Stout’s vision for the exhibition without seeing the works collectively in the space. The light throughout both galleries is toned down, as if immersed in islands of solitude, only to be summarily awakened by periodic flashes of light, color, texture, and form that guide you through the stillness and the impending forms of abstraction and figuration.

Through Stout’s careful planning of her exhibition, the oracle provides many opportunities to contemplate the value of stillness. Visitors are more apt to feel grounded after seeing the exhibition and better prepared to take on the noise that awaits us during these tumultuous times.

______

Author: Timothy Brown, Director, IA&A at Hillyer

Note: If you do have an opportunity to see the exhibition, visit our YouTube channel to hear talks by the artists and a conversation with Renée Stout and Camille Brown, Assistant Curator at The Phillips Collection.