Victory Over the Sun: The Poetics and Politics of Eclipse

Throughout history total solar eclipses have aroused feelings of awe and sparked fears of impending doom and destruction. Ancient cultures believed the darkened daytime sky of the Moon overtaking the Sun was an ominous signal that the gods were in a quarrel. The occurrence of the sun’s temporary erasure in Kentucky, during The Great American Eclipse of 2017, provides a backdrop for an exhibition of drawing, painting, sculpture, video and photography that explores literal and figurative notions of darkness, shadow and light.

Victory Over the Sun takes into account the cosmic phenomenon and a host of other meanings that are held within the word eclipse. Artists who engage in acts of silencing, covering or masking, as well as conceptual gestures related to eclipsed narratives in American art and culture, will examine themes of blindness, censorship, obscurity, and suppression.