M (other)

Nicole DiFabio

Jane E Hindman

Karen Piovaty

Blakelee Pieroni

Curated by Blakelee Pieroni

The group exhibition M (other) is a provocative and contemplative showcase of artwork that explores the infrequently discussed topic of stepmotherhood. Through a range of live performance art, mixed media installations, workshops, and various visual mediums, M (other) presents a powerful narrative that challenges the societal norms surrounding the misunderstood role stepmothers play within a familial unit. The core of the exhibition reveals the isolation and loss of personhood one must endure when entering the role. The exhibit shines a light on the overlooked efforts that stepmothers face, while various artists produce real-time, creative research and data in a safe space removed from traditional family cohabitation. Pieroni encourages visitors to question nuclear family norms and societal pressures that keep this undervalued group silent. M (other) is a vital showcase that analyzes the complexities of stepmotherhood and invites visitors to engage with the issues surrounding modern-day family dynamics. The exhibition serves as a compelling reminder that subject-object dualism remains a burden on human behavior. Breaking free from commonplace stigmas, statistics, and stereotypes, M (other) advocates for a collective unraveling of the definition of family, through detachment of conventional patterns and territorial principles.

Blakelee Pieroni is an immersive media art creator. Her work involves blending original, large scale oil paintings with orchestrated, psychoactive content. She is a mover, her subject matter begins in the body. Drawing on the inevitable influences that structure our mental human experience, she paints. Her work tests the tolerance of forced, biological, system alterations that women and planet have endured since genesis. Pieroni believes that by constructing abstract displays of current events, rational thought and moral obligations you will not only be challenged, but changed. The work is intended to prompt the audience to question themselves and their actions moving into a post-human mindset. To elicit a feeling of discomfort. To demand a realization that Earth is not man’s slave. Pieroni’s paintings have been showcased at various galleries and feature on custom leotards for professional dance companies. She was recognized as the artist choice for the 2021 season at m.t Burton gallery and exhibited her NFT artwork Safeguard at the Everywoman Bienniel Exhibit in 2021 at Superchief Gallery. In 2022, Pieroni held a six-month solo show titled Interworlding with Chashama. Pieroni is currently showing M (other), and preparing to launch a 10k collectable NFT collection in April.

Nicole Di Fabio is a queer painter based in Washington, DC. Nicole earned her M.A. in Anthropology and a graduate certificate in documentary filmmaking from The George Washington University and her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth in Anthropology and Women’s Studies. Although she was unsure of which medium she would end up using, Nicole had always envisioned merging her anthropological knowledge with visual arts. Nicole works at a non-profit organization that focuses on science, education, and community and also volunteers as a program chair for the Reel Affirmations Film Festival, which is curated for the queer community in DC. New to art, her most desired subjects to paint are women, interpretations of gender expression, and foodscapes from lived experiences.

Jane E Hindman is a NYC-based artist working across different media including oil and water color painting. As a former English professor retired from CUNY in 2020, Jane has been exploring the questions of gender, identity, and perception throughout her career as a scholar and an artist. The interface of word and image informs her work: an image well-titled can often clarify what volumes pages and pages cannot. Her painting provides a means to express the ineffable, to associate seemingly incongruent ideas, and to maximize the creative tension in contradiction: excruciating independence, fierce tenderness, exquisite longing.

In this show, Karen Piovaty will be presenting her collection The Other Mother. The origins of The Other Mother sprang from her experiences as a stepmother, as a child of divorce, and as a witness to other stepmothers’ stories. Her artwork captures the essence of their problems and frustrations. “Other mothers” are clearly an integral part of our social fabric. Their stories are often unspoken, always complicated, and rarely like the fairy tales or movie versions we know. Think of these pieces as a digital support group and know that similar experiences are happening on every block, in every city, in every province and state. Karen received her BFA from the University of Arizona in 1981. She has had a successful career as a graphic designer, creates solo art exhibitions and participates in group shows. Karen currently owns a gallery in Muskoka, Ontario that showcases Canadian fine craft and original art.