MORGANTOWN — In an age when catering to division, distrust and tribalism has become big business and indulging in it is as easy as picking up your phone, artist Kathleen Cash is asking that we put aside assumptions and lean into our humanity.
That’s the inspiration behind “Faces of Morgantown,” an art installation including some 140 painted portraits opening Saturday in the Wiles Hill Community Center’s Debora D Palmer Gallery.
In a didactic that accompanies the paintings, Cash recalls a conversation with Ethiopian tribe members who spent a lifetime believing a nearby tribe were cannibals and therefore never venturing to meet them.
“Today everyone sees cannibals. We make assumptions. We hardly know ourselves, yet we seem to know others. We shame, stigmatize and fear those who we think do not share our beliefs,” Cash writes.
Debbie Palmer is the manager of arts and wellness at BOPARC.
“The artist came to me and said she had this idea. She explained that she was not happy about what’s happening in society and all these divisions we have. I just thought it was really significant,” Palmer said.
“Her goal was to move throughout Morgantown and do portraits from the community, from every walk of life. She’s done that. She has affluent people, homeless people, gay, straight, right, left. But when you’re in the gallery, you’re looking at all these faces.”
The show kicks off with an opening event from 6-8 p.m. Saturday.
“You’re going to look at the walls and you’re going to recognize a lot of faces, some because they’re people you know and some because maybe you pass them on the street. It really is everybody,” Palmer said. “I feel like it’s a pretty important show.”
