- This event has passed.
Emily Barker at Murmurs
January 7, 2020 - January 14, 2020
On view: December 14, 2019–January 18, 2020
Murmurs is a new gallery, cafe, and community space downtown. That’s where Emily Barker has created an installation that poetically illustrates the daily challenges that come with being disabled in an able-bodied world. On the far wall, an intentionally-blurred text piece starts with the line, “Imagine waking up and not being able to enter your home.” This sentiment permeates into the exhibition’s center piece, Untitled (Kitchen), an upscaled model of kitchen cabinets made of a transparent plastic. The countertops dwarf the viewer, again, recalling Barker’s daily experiences in a wheelchair, and highlighting issues of everyday accessibility. Yet, more than illustrating the artist’s own experiences, this exhibition is a plea to capitalist and industrial forces that perpetuate “normative” products and architectures. Here, Barker argues that the idea of normativity is a myth.