Mercy, Solo Exhibition 2019 — Lauren Bourguet

MERCY

“Mercy” is an exhibition showcasing the work created the summer of 2019. Lauren was inspired by the fear based language used by the then current leader of the United States government in reference to immigration and deportation issues. These choice words and phrases influence the public on a tribal level of “us versus them”. Lauren broaches this subject matter with the use of color, green. This color is a staple of visual culture as the skin tone of aliens, or in this case immigrants. The materials also consist of recent newspaper articles and images of people.

Rene Henri Bourguet

Mixed Media on Canvas

10 x 10 inches

Surveillance

Mixed Media on Canvas

10 x 10 inches

I Lift My Lamp Beside the Golden Door

Mixed Media on Canvas

10 x 10 inches

Untitled

Mixed Media on Canvas

10 x 10 inches

Double Torch

Mixed Media Relief Sculpture

18.5 x 11 inches

A sketch of Lady Liberty (see in piece One Nation) compelled the artist to compare the United States past and present relationship to immigration. One of the torches, represents the welcoming of immigrants entering NY harbor during the early 20th century. The second represents the contrasting “Go back to where you came from”, outlook of how some US citizens view immigrants entering through the US southern border in current times. This relief sculpture is comprised of layered newspaper articles which detail new immigration policies, and symbolize the complexities of the issue.

SEND HER BACK, 2019

Monoprint

13.5 x 18.5 inches

'You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise.

-Maya Angelou

One Nation

Encaustic, pest control netting, cardboard, newspaper, pastel, graphite

25 x 60 inches

The artist uses cardboard, a universal moving material as the backbone in this installation of the United States.The pest control netting is symbolic of anti-immigrant attitudes and the dehumanization of refugees and asylum seekers. Newspaper articles detail heartbreaking stories of family separations in detainment centers. The face of Cordelia Scaife May, the single largest donor to anti-immigrant causes, is peaking through and smiling next too an upsidedown drawing of the statue of liberty (which spawned the piece Double Torch).