Curatorial Statement

Museum Blue is excited to return for our 2nd season with the work of Alexis Rivierre and Tiffany J. Sutton in Take Care, Vera.

As we began the process of working with these two artists, themes quickly began presenting themselves. Ideas of care, relationships and their complex dynamics, personal and cultural histories, strength, rituals, actions, energies, performance, and negotiating the politics of perception related to identity are just some of the topics we are presented with when experiencing the work of these two artists. These matters seem to echo and call to one another as we spend time with the artists’ works. The relationship between the two bodies of work unfolds as a kind of conversation between long-time friends who have shared, felt, and endured a history. And of course, these histories lay a foundation of unjustness that is perpetuated in the present moment.  

These artists bring to our attention that the members of society who have historically received the least care go on and on through daily acts of selflessness and provide care for others. Through the artists’ subject’s actions and images, the viewer perceives tremendous strength and complexity. Rivierre’s and Sutton’s work reminds us that we must always recognize, support, and respect the ongoing challenges women of color experience. 

On the notion of strength, we see it in Vera, the subject of Sutton’s photographs. We also see it in Rivierre’s video performance, through the actions of the character The One Who Breathes. What does power look like? We suggest that these images are an example.

Care can manifest in many forms and actions; Rivierre and Sutton show us this. Their art presents us with powerful figures who provide care for others, yet the question remains, who cares for them? What can we do to rectify matters that have for far too long been neglected? Seeing the circumstances is a start; taking action to change them is a necessity. 

At this moment, more than ever, we must offer care for one another. In that action, we can demonstrate what it means to move towards a better world for all. We hope this exhibition serves as a prompt to explore the ideas around what it means to care for someone, and the question of who protects those who care. 

Alexis Rivierre is a multidisciplinary artist based in New York City. 

Tiffany J. Sutton’s practice is rooted in photography; she is based in St. Louis, Missouri.

Selected Works

Artists’ Bios

Alexis Rivierre (b. 1991) is an interdisciplinary artist who creates visual narratives; her practice functions within the expanded field of painting utilizing a range of media from photography to textiles, and performance. In addition to her artist practice Rivierre partners with arts organizations, museums, and universities to develop educational resources and facilitate art workshops and lectures. Rivierre earned her MFA in Studio art with an emphasis in painting at Wichita State University in 2018 and a BFA in Art/Painting, with a minor in Art History from Missouri State University in 2014. Rivierre has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at Wayfarers Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), The Ulrich Museum of Art (Wichita, KS), The Kansas Museum (Wichita, KS), and Center [3] Artistic + Social Practice in Ontario, Canada. She was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and currently lives and practices in New York City.

Photographer Tiffany J. Sutton was born in 1981 in Rochester, NY, and was raised in suburban St. Louis, MO. She began documenting family and friends after receiving a Kodak camera as a Christmas gift in the early 1990s. While primarily a self-taught photographer, she also attended classes at Washington University in St. Louis and St. Louis Community College. Sutton is a 2020 Harvard #InTheCity Visual Artist Fellow and was awarded the Regional Arts Commission St. Louis Artist Support Grant in 2019, the Regional Arts Commission Artist Relief grant, the Luminary Futures Fund: Emergency Relief for Artists, and A Sustaining Arts Practice Fund (ASAP Fund). Sutton has decided to work with black women exclusively, as a way to reconnect with herself and discuss social movements. Sutton works with digital, film and instant cameras.

Artist Talk

excerpt from DOUBLE EXPOSURE: ALEXIS RIVIERRE AND TIFFANY J. SUTTON AT MUSEUM BLUE

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare,” writes Audre Lorde, in a well known passage from the epilogue of her cancer journals. 1 The passage comes at the end of a decade-long catalogue of days in which Lorde traveled, wrote, and met with Black women of the Diaspora around the globe, and it was this passage that came to mind when I first encountered the curatorial vision of Museum Blue’s virtual exhibition Take Care, Vera, curated by Michael Behle and Lauren Cardenas and slated to run from September 20 through December 20, 2021.

Read the full article:

Double Exposure: Alexis Rivierre and Tiffany J. Sutton at Museum Blue