Advertisement
U2’s song, With or Without You, quickly became a hit in the late 80’s and the lyrics which are widely interpreted start with a romantic relationship that goes sour. Bono, the lead singer and co-writer, offers another angle- the song is really about his relationship with himself, and the tensions between his responsibilities and his restlessness being at odds with each other. He says, “That tension, it turns out is what makes me as an artist”.The artists in BE/longing: With or without You, respond to the precariousness of life through the expression of longing, grief, and spirituality. Each artwork represents feelings of alienation stemming from the longing for family and home, feeling distance from a community or place, and the feeling of missing someone, something or someplace.
Each artist featured in be/longing engage with the themes of connection, belonging, and isolation in their own way. The visual transformation of the source image into an abstraction serves as a metaphor for the way that memory, and our nostalgia or longing for spaces and people from our past, becomes more intangible as it shifts over time.
Alison Bogard Hall, Julia Briggs, Jacqui Brown, Martha Cliffel, Melissa Harris, Anne Manley, Sylivia Munodawafa, Nana Agyare, Julie Ezelle Patton, Sarah Raban, LaSaundra Robinson, Bobbi Reagins, Lacey Talley, Anna Tararova, and Scot Phillips
Image credit Julia Briggs
Advertisement
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
725 Johnson Court, Cleveland, OH, United States, Ohio 44113
