Freedom is for Everybody
May 20 — August 7, 2021
Virtual opening tour with the artist Thursday, May 20 | 6:00PM CST on Instagram Live
Barrett Barrera Projects is pleased to announce Freedom is for Everybody, a new exhibition of work by Swedish-American artist Michele Pred opening with a virtual exhibition tour at projects+gallery (4733 McPherson Ave.) the evening of May 20, and on view through August 7, 2021.
In her artistic practice, Pred uses sculpture, assemblage and performance to uncover the cultural and political meaning behind everyday objects, with a concentration on feminist themes such as equal pay, reproductive rights, and personal security. As Pred’s work implores us, now more than ever we must raise our voices to protect the freedom of all bodies, especially those historically disempowered.
Sculptural pieces from a series titled Power of the Purse include vintage purses emblazoned in neon with phrases culled from the current social resistance movements, such as Time’s Up (2018) and call us to both reflection and action. In this context, the vintage mid-century purses become symbols not only of the modern economic power women hold and the possibilities for change that come with it, but also reminders of that critical era in the women’s movement. A pair of vintage shoes dotted with unwanted, expired and placebo birth control pills, In Our Shoes (2013) underscores the continuing and growing impediments to fair, safe and affordable access to birth control and other women’s services in the United States.
In a recent interview, Pred stated:
“Anti-progressive forces, sometimes directly and consciously, sometimes not, have been fighting back on a multitude of fronts, but most visibly on issues of what a woman can choose to do with her own body. My work, in part, tries to draw out attention to this wider context.”
Freedom is for Everybody functions as a representation of Pred’s commitment to women’s rights issues and a continuation of her larger project to drive these topics of conversation into public spaces. In support of the institutions that fight for and provide necessary services to women, 5% of the proceeds from all sales of her altered purses in the exhibition will also be donated to Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri.