Jessica Labatte: Almanac for Shade Gardeners (Virtual)

Western Exhibitions is thrilled to present Jessica Labatte: Almanac for Shade Gardeners in EXHIBITION Weekend (September 25–27, 2020), a digital initiative organized by EXPO Chicago that convenes Chicago-based contemporary art galleries and leading institutions, featuring current exhibitions, curatorial projects, and artist programs.

Visit our EXHIBITION Weekend page here

(This link goes live on Friday, September 25th at 10 AM)

And as a companion to our EXHIBITION Weekend presentation, please visit our new online exclusive "In Depth with..." page on our website featuring the entire Almanac for Shade Gardeners series, alongside thoughts by the artist, essays by Elizabeth Chodos and Jeff M. Ward, a playlist from Eric May, a video interview from Silver Eye and more. Visit In Depth with Jessica Labatte here.

Image: Jessica Labatte, Kate's Bush, 2018, Archival pigment print. 40 x 30 in

• LIVE EVENT: Saturday, September 26, 4 PM CST

In the Garden with Jessica Labatte and Eric May

Join Jessica Labatte and Eric May via a live YouTube feed from their home garden as they discuss their botanical and shade-gardening practices.

Almanac for Shade Gardeners is a series of photographic floral still lifes that mark impermanence in the everyday domestic space of Jessica Labatte’s home and garden. The series, which began in 2018 when Labatte photographed every flower that bloomed over the course of one growing season, has continued over the past two summers marking time as flowers bloom and fade from one season to the next, year after year. The pictures incorporate evolving indexes of nurturing and the endless clutter of objects that accompany parenthood and artistic practice within domestic spaces. Challenging myths of artistic practice and motherhood espoused by early feminist artists, Labatte’s photographs look to depict a more expansive definition of feminist art practice for our contemporary moment. These images advocate for the appreciation of beauty and mindfulness in everyday domestic objects and caretaking rituals. The most recent photographs display the expansive creativity that can be found in the home and capture the joys and challenges of parenting through a pandemic.