Chicago-based artist Bethany Collins examines language for racial biases. The result: Moving works of erasure, prints, paintings, sculptures, and books that convey, as Holland Cotter noted writing in the New York Times, the intrinsically racialized nature of language itself.
Collins’ work includes America: A Hymnal, an artist’s book featuring 100 different versions of “My Country ’Tis of Thee” with sections burned out by a
laser cutter; Colorblind Dictionary, in which Collins erased all references to color in a Webster’s New World Dictionary; and The Birmingham News, 1963, double-blind-embossed prints calling attention to the newspaper’s editorial decision not to feature civil rights stories on its cover pages during spring 1963.
University Galleries of Illinois State Director and Chief Curator Kendra Paitz MBA ’06, M.A. ’11, first met Collins at a studio visit in 2015. Paitz asked Collins to participate in Strange Oscillations and Vibrations of Sympathy, a 2016 group exhibition about women artists addressing women writers. Collins gave a powerful lecture at the exhibition opening, and attendees responded deeply to her work.
Collins later returned to campus, first at University Galleries to create prints with Normal Editions, and then as the inaugural presenter for the Anne and Stephen Matter Lecture Series at University Galleries.
Funding from the University Galleries Exhibition Program Endowment made possible the publication of a 112-page hardcover book featuring Collins’ work, as well as essays by Paitz and Grace Deveney, the David C. and Sarajean Ruttenberg Associate Curator of Photography and Media at the Art Institute of Chicago.
The book also includes a reading list created by Collins and examples of her archival research.
The University Galleries Exhibition Program Endowment was established in 2014 by Drs. James E. Major and Amy Gilreath Major. The galleries regularly exhibit and promote art by Illinois State faculty, students, and alumni, and bring work by internationally recognized artists into the community. The purpose of the fund is to supplement catalogue printing and design, honoraria for artists and designers, installation materials, documentation of art, and educational programming.
To purchase the book created by Bethany Collins in partnership with University Galleries, visit IllinoisState.edu/BethanyCollins
