A clean slate: Group art exhibition opens at The Anderson Gallery

Mackenzie Meleski, Contributing Writer

Tabula rasa translates from Latin to “an absence of preconceived ideas or predetermined goals; a clean slate.”

Fourteen VCUarts students presented “Tabula Rasa,” their interpretation of this Latin phrase through film, performance art and sculpture. Chynia Harris, Lareina Allred and Teairrah Green led the project after receiving a VCUarts Collaborative Research Grant during the fall of 2022, according to Allred and Harris. The exhibition opened on Sept. 1 at the Anderson and will be open for viewing until Sept. 15. 

The collaboration started with hours spent in the library brainstorming, Harris said. The students drew rough sketches and wrote drafts of their ideas, eventually focusing on ideas of creating a clean slate and biocentrism. They each contributed ways to interpret this idea through their own specialties and majors in art: dance, sculpture and film.

“Movement is a way that I translate my thoughts and my feelings,” Harris, who is a dance major, said, “So all of us used our own art mediums to explore this idea of consciousness. And then that’s where we found tabula rasa.”

The art exhibition explores what happens when a clean slate — tabula rasa — is created. The exhibition also focuses on the idea of biocentrism and how consciousness relates to the physical form, according to Allred.

“We kind of wanted to have something that explored human consciousness and the idea of like, the mind as an experience outside of one’s body, because art is such,” Allred said. 

Guests entered the top floor exhibition space and into a darkened room. Projectors cast videos of nature and modern dancers onto sheets. Surrounding the videos were sculptures made from real tree branches and leaves. Dancers will fill the exhibition space for a live performance choreographed by Chynia Harris on Sept. 8. 

Allred said that the exhibition explores how viewers experience reality, the senses and the people and world around them. 

“We wanted to have an installation that is not just something that you put on a wall and you look at,” Allred said, “It’s something that you can walk around and you can experience.”

Chynia Harris said she hopes the project can be the start of something new for VCUarts students.

“Collaboration is something that’s really big at VCUarts, so having the show will hopefully inspire other people to collaborate more and just be open to things that aren’t in your field,” Harris said.

VCUarts dance student Eliza Seaton joined the project as a dancer after reaching out to Harris to express her interest in participating, she said. The dancers have been rehearsing for the performance since July. 

“Being a part of this process I have seen what a cohesive project looks like, and I will take that with me through my own projects,” Seaton said.

Stella Tessarollo, a VCUarts graphic design student, attended the opening of the exhibition. She said she enjoys attending student art shows with her friends for inspiration.

“I think the most interesting part for me was seeing so many art mediums come together. It’s more common to see collaboration within the same major,” Tessarollo said.