Measured

Each of the artists included in Measured graduated from Florida International University and received the Betty Laird Perry Award. Betty Laird Perry, wife of the founding president of FIU, Charles Perry (1937-1999), has been the most consistent and generous benefactor of students in the FIU visual arts program. This award, which carries her name, has existed since the opening of the University in 1972. Over the years, the award has increased both monetarily and in frequency, granting an award to one artist from each graduation exhibition presented at the Frost Art Museum.

The videos featured here demonstrate a range of video art practices. Victor Rafael Golden’s Inner Resolve offers a vision of Haitian life that utilizes documentary film’s formal elements. With no sound, this short film presents scenes of community life. Comprised of 500 digital images, Chaitra Garrick’s animation short contemplates the restricted life of an outdoor pet. The rough charcoal drawings, crude sound editing, and aggressive voice acting emphasize the dog’s solitary routine. This contrasts with Katty Aoun’s cast of stuffed animals in Lion Girl: The Ox Who Lost His Eye, who have gathered for teatime when disaster strikes. Aoun explains that her intricately designed puppets, props, and sets are heavily inspired by her memories with family. In Christina Porcelli’s clay animation Rotten we see how malleable clay forms are used to suggest deterioration and mental fatigue. The final video included is by Sonia Royal, 2019’s winner of the Betty Laird Perry Award. Royal’s Momotaro is a filmic adaptation of a Japanese folktale that showcases the rich, collaborative nature of narrative film. With elaborate make up and costume, the story unfolds as a boy born from a peach, ventures out to understand his identity within the roadside backdrop of South Florida.

This exhibition was organized by museum staff in consultation with Fereshteh Toosi, Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Art History and FIU students enrolled in History of Digital Art. The Frost is grateful to Professor Toosi and their students for their efforts to conceptualize and realize this exhibition.