Sarah Thalibut “Starfish”

The title, Starfish, refers to the slang phrase, “to starfish,” which Urban Dictionary defines as “the act of spreading one’s body out in bed, each limb and the head creating the 5 points of a star like a starfish.”  The exhibition aims to articulate and magnify female and femme experiences, and allow those perspectives to take up space in the gallery.

In the spirit of movements like the Women’s March and #metoo, these large-scale paintings, sound and light installation, and the associated programming are meant to combat the continued assaults on the female, femme, and non-binary body by the government, the media and patriarchal culture. The five paintings, one for each point of the starfish, are based on Thibault’s height using it as the smallest dimension.  The use of first-person point of view, and the orange and pink color palette of salt lamps, prioritize a feminine perspective that is intimate yet expansive .

Words and images via Royal Nonesuch Gallery