BRIC House’s group exhibition, When I Am Empty Please Dispose of Me Properly, examines the ways in which our own humanity, vulnerability, agency, and desires are molded by American capitalist ideals. Featuring the work of seven artists and housed in BRIC’s main gallery space, this exhibition consists of photography based work which draws upon the aesthetics of Americana and uses the language of advertising. Curator Jenny Gerow, with the help of Artist Tahir Carl Karmali and Intern Augusta Weiss, was able to dynamically use the space with four installation pieces alongside four series of photographs.
The show’s namesake piece by photographer Chuck Ramirez is a photograph of a Whataburger soda cup with the cup’s disposal instructions composed to nearly eye level, thus becoming not only an acknowledgement of a shared consumer motif but also a tender personal note. Ayanna Dozier’s piece, Forever Your Girl, featuring her film of a Black femme riding a miniature carousel, which explores notions of innocence and agency, is a particularly engaging video installation as it incorporates multiple viewing apparatuses. While the hanging photographs’ two-dimensional nature engages with the viewer face-to-face, the installation pieces call the viewer to notice their own physical relationship to the work, body-to-body. In a post-pandemic hyper-capitalist society, When I Am Empty successfully positions viewers to see their own reflection and examine the climate crisis in the collective narrative of these pieces.
- Cornelia Sullivan
I agree, this show forces viewers to examine what is happening to the environment in a hyper-capitalist society. I found that the artists in the show were looking more deeply into the climate crisis by directly focusing on the staggering quantities of waste production, whether that be through excess plastic production or by displaying perfectly fine items that would have otherwise been sent to landfills. Even by displaying the Uber with an erase silhouette in one of the pieces the artist alludes to how even humans have become disposable. It would be nice to hear more about how you interpret the human relationship with these issues being depicted within this group of work.
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