Journeys: Carson Zullinger and Shawn Baron Pinckney

In this new series, Carson Zullinger explores the intersection of the dream and the awake state, interpreting the journey to where the two states are one.

Carson Zullinger’s artwork derives from the exploration of the inner self, and its contrast with the physical world. He uses dreams and the subconscious as a starting place to envision new imagery, striving to create pieces that incorporate a sense of spirit or mind-body interrelationships while telling a story.The subconscious is not rational. The Jungian dreamscape that Zullinger draws his inspiration from allows for the aesthetic space to shift dramatically from image to image. Yet there is a common theme of transcendence and spirituality that threads throughout the vision that he interprets.

Shawn Baron Pinckney’s artwork explores the sacred ritual of dress and it's cultural significance. Utilizing fashion, history and literature as a foundation, Pinckney elicits a new dialogue about societal norms with the objective of opening the viewers mind to a broader reality of humanity.

In this new series, Shawn Baron Pinckney weaves a story of the slaves on the fictional plantation of Tara from the novel Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell (1936). Drawing inspiration from the mistress of the house, Scarlett O’Hara's use of heavy draperies to make a gown, Pinckney puts himself in the role of slave and contemplates his Journey, escaping from Tara.

Using denim, doilies, linen and lace, Pinckney subverts the idea of Antebellum gentility while celebrating the slaves who worked as cotton pickers, assistants to the smiths, and house workers. With lace and cord, Pinckney honors the slaves whose backs had intricate scarring from being beaten with whips and whose necks were stretched from being lynched.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website