Juneau’s art scene is quietly offering a potent antidote to the current cultural obsession with established narratives. This Friday, the Juneau Arts and Culture Center (JACC) hosts “My Mother’s Bones,” an exhibition of block prints born not from retellings of classic myths, but from entirely new ones – crafted by artists Rachel Levy and Alex Bookless. In a media landscape saturated with reboots and legacy sequels, this feels… deliberate. It’s a statement about the power of original storytelling, and a subtle challenge to the industry’s reliance on pre-existing IP.
- The exhibition features 18 original block prints, each illustrating a unique myth created by the artists.
- Rachel Levy’s work explores themes of maternal love and sacrifice, drawing inspiration from her own relationship with her mother and the natural world.
- Alex Bookless’s prints delve into the personal, including a touching tribute to the lessons learned through loving her dog.
Levy’s prints, particularly the one depicting a heart pierced by a dagger, are striking in their emotional complexity. She explains the piece represents a mother’s extreme act of love – “slowly cut[ting] out her heart and feed[ing] it to her daughter piece by piece, so that way she can enjoy life.” This isn’t Hallmark card territory. It’s raw, unsettling, and speaks to a willingness to explore the darker shades of familial bonds. The fact that she connects this to gratitude for her own mother adds another layer of intrigue. It’s a carefully constructed narrative, and one that feels particularly resonant in a moment where discussions around motherhood are often polarized.
Bookless’s work, while seemingly more straightforward – a print of a dog running with the sun in its teeth – highlights a similar theme of self-discovery through connection. Her statement that loving her dog “teaches me how to love myself” is deceptively simple. It taps into a growing cultural trend of finding emotional fulfillment outside of traditional romantic relationships, and the increasing acceptance of pet ownership as a valid source of companionship and emotional support.
The JACC show, running through January, isn’t aiming for blockbuster status. It’s a local exhibition. But its quiet power lies in its rejection of the mainstream’s need for established brands. It’s a reminder that compelling stories don’t always need a pre-existing fanbase; sometimes, the most impactful narratives are the ones we create ourselves. And in an entertainment landscape increasingly dominated by algorithms and focus groups, that’s a message worth paying attention to.
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