Nina Johnson is pleased to announce yes/and (yellow is the medicine) an ambitious solo exhibition by Oregon-based Sara Siestreem, a multimedia artist and member of the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians. yes/and will be shown in the gallery’s library space and includes an impressive range of new work from Siestreem including paintings, ceramic sculpture, handwoven baskets, and a wall-mounted mixed-media installation. Siestreem’s thematic locus for these wide-rangingworks is nested at the intersection of ecological and social justice, particularly focusedon women’s rights, the immigrant experience in the United States, and ecological andhuman genocide throughout the world.
Much of Siestreem’s practice is rooted in the exploration of ancestral and historicalpractices using natural materials and imagery to create a new visual lexicon thatconfronts the socio-ecological injustices of the contemporary world. The paintings onview begin with Siestreem’s observations of nature that she then translates throughformal structure and improvisation. Using acrylic, graphite, and color pencil on panelshe abstractly depicts rhythmic cycles in nature—these works are both structured andfree, creating a “visual noise” through gestural strokes and repetition, which the artisthopes “will evoke that same energetic charge we receive from contact with the land,animals, and natural events.” The shock of cadmium yellow in three of the paintings onview is the predominant color in this exhibition (from which the title derives) and is acolor Siestreem associates with medicine and healing.
The ceramic sculptures and baskets on view recall integral traditional weavingpractices—these works recognize the significant role of basket-weaving historically, but also seek to employ ancient practices in modern-day healing, community building, and empowerment. Siestreem recognizes the cross-cultural implications of the history of basket-weaving and plays with the metaphor of weaving as coming together to form a protective, nonviolent collective against outside colonizing and violent forces.
1The wall-mounted sculptural installation fiesta, forever (blue nights and rattlesnakes)is an example of one of Siestreem’s “minions,” which are crowned by what the artist calls “Aretha caps” (named after Aretha Franklin for her early influence on the artist, particularly her strong feminist message). The ceramic domes, which are also echoed in catacomb—a collection of nine slip-cast ceramic dance caps—are meant to protect women and young people, and the minions themselves are intended to be “protective beings that simultaneously uplift good and call out evil.” The colorful ribboned bodies of the abstract figures are both playful and ethereal. Through this series the artist explores femininity and gender, vulnerability and strength. Siestreem states that in creating the works for this exhibition her “first intention was to both soothe and uplift the audience, then to inspire them to create their own love-based forms of action to fight against the oppression we are all trapped within.”
Sara Siestreem: yes/and (yellow is the medicine)is on view in the Exhibition Library through March 1st, 2025
