The Duo Show
October 10 – November 8, 2024
Trolley Barn Gallery | 489 Main St, Poughkeepsie, NY
The Duo Show at the Trolley Barn Gallery was a captivating exhibition curated by the Youth Arts Empowerment Zone (YAEZ) Curatorial Team in collaboration with guest curator Indira A. Abiskaroon, Curatorial Assistant of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum, and Jaime Ransome, Trolley Barn Gallery Manager. The Duo Show featured the works of painter and photographer Kimmah Dennis and the installations of Marielena Ferrer, two regional artists whose pieces in conversation initiated a transformation of the Trolley Barn Gallery into a space where themes of childhood, displacement, loss, and hope collide with one another. Both artists are motivated by a desire to examine the strength and vulnerability of youth and the roles and responsibilities the rest of us have in empowering or weakening them, bringing these themes to life in a powerful and reflective way.
BROKEN MONARCHS
Broken Monarchs commemorates the thousands of migrant youth who, beginning in 2017, were separated from their families and detained at the U.S.–Mexico border. Marielena Ferrer exalts their stories through an immersive installation of paper Monarch butterflies, which for their beauty and resilience—and their multi-generational migrations throughout North America—have become a powerful symbol for migrant rights. Ferrer, alongside community participants, has produced over five thousand Monarchs, each correlating to a child taken from their loved ones. Many children have since been returned, represented by the mobiles that resemble the butterfly clusters who rest post-migration on Mexico’s oyamel firs. The artist also honors those not yet reunited through her caged butterflies, while “broken,” fallen Monarchs memorialize those whose lives were cut short. In defiance against the spread of global anti-immigrant sentiment, Ferrer’s work gives equal weight to trauma and hope, becoming more beautiful and bittersweet as it, alongside the estimated total number of separated children, continues to grow.
CAPTURING ECHOES
In Capturing Echoes, Kimmah Dennis offers glimpses into the lives of African children subjected to the volatility of socio-political turmoil. Informed by her family’s wartime displacement from Liberia to Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and, finally, the United States, the artist crafts materially and conceptually layered vignettes that show children who, like her, have navigated the fragility of childhood amid seemingly inescapable chaos. Symbols of innocence are placed in contrast alongside indications of unrest, engaging issues of governmental abuses, the recruitment of children to armed forces, and the ever-present threat of violence. The tension present in these portraits is eased by the meditative “Capsule” series, which depicts domestic spaces where home can be found, and memories can live. The inclusion of photo albums in these works, as well as other autobiographical touches throughout the exhibition, root Dennis’s explorations of memory and migration in autobiography, tethering personal experiences and shared global histories.
About the Artists:
Kimmah Dennis is a painter and photographer, driven by traditional, experimental, and conceptual exploration of materials through familiar archives and the lack thereof. Born amid the chaos of the first Liberian war, her accounts of government abuses, forced child recruitment, and harrowing escape resonate in her work. As an artist, Dennis explores themes of identity, culture, and personal history, creating pieces that are both intimate and universal. Kimmah’s dedication to her craft and her powerful storytelling through art is notable. She was recently awarded the American Academy of Rome 2024-25 Terra Foundation Rome Prize Fellowship.
Marielena Ferrer is an artist dedicated to exploring the human condition through her intricate and emotive works. She engages in dialogues about identity and community, and was recently honored at the Ulster County Executive’s Arts Awards as this year’s Artivist. She chairs the Kingston Arts Commission, directs Humanamente, and sits on several boards. Marielena holds a BFA and MFA in Sculpture from SUNY New Paltz and is now the Executive Director of Unison Arts in New Paltz.
About the Guest Curator: Indira A. Abiskaroon
Joining us as the guest curator of The Duo Show, Indira A. Abiskaroon is the Curatorial Assistant of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum. In her position, Abiskaroon has served a central role in all aspects of the Museum’s contemporary programming. Most recently, she helped organize the back-to-back blockbuster exhibitions Spike Lee: Creative Sources and Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys. Prior to joining the Brooklyn Museum, she worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. She holds a BA in Art History and Classics from the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College and an MA in the History of Art and Archaeology from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.
Events Schedule:
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 10 | 6–8 PM Click here to see photos and learn more about the evening.
Guests and artists will experience the Trolley Barn Gallery’s fall flagship exhibition, co-curated by the Youth Arts Empowerment Zone Curators and guest curator, Indira A. Abiskaroon. Refreshments will be provided. Meet the artists and curators and hear the youth curators speak about their process and the research that lead to this impassioned exhibition of art tackling themes of childhood, displacement, loss, and hope.
Artist Talk: Saturday, October 19 | 2:30–4 PM
Exhibiting artists Kimmah Dennis and Marielena Ferrer engage in conversation with guest curator, Indira A. Abiskaroon, about The Duo Show exhibition, their creative processes and the difficult themes that their works embrace with inspiring imagery.
Artist Workshop: Friday, November 1 | 4–7 PM
Exhibiting artist, Marielena Ferrer, leads a Butterfly Tearing workshop that continues her practice of community engaged art making. Ferrer will walk participants through her tissue paper tearing techniques and enlighten the community on the significance of each individually precious object – and by extension – the human spirit. Each participant will take home their own paper butterfly.
