Amanda Rowan: Place Setting
May 20th, 2021
Gender, class & domesticity: Stunning surrealism inspired by three generations of women at Acequia Madre House, New Mexico, USA
ACEQUIA MADRE HOUSE 614 Acequia Madre, Santa Fe, New Mexico May 20 - June 30, 2022
In a year when much of the world was confined to their homes or under imposed travel restrictions due to coronavirus, American photographer Amanda Rowan was also herself immersed in a domestic environment - but not her own.
Created during Rowan’s Fellowship at the Women's International Study Center at Acequia Madre House in Santa Fe, New Mexico in April 2021 - her visually arresting new exhibition, ‘Place Setting’, is a multimedia performance piece of photography, film, and sculpture.
The result of the project is a collection of work - including recreated elaborate dinner parties from archival recipe books - which explores the surrealist narrative of domestic labor as well as themes of property and independence linked to the trappings of class and gender.
“I sought to capture the duality of the space. In one sense, a reaction to privilege and aristocracy, and at the same time, a celebration of autonomy in the American Southwest as independent women.”
- Amanda Rowan
Rowan immersed herself in the House and in the lives of the women who inhabited it -Eva Scott Fényes, Leonora S.M. Curtin and Leonora F.C. Paloheimo. The matriarch, Eva Fényes, moved to New Mexico in the late 1800s during the Gilded Age. At the time, it was one of the few American territories where divorce was legal, and a single woman could own land. Through her efforts, the space has fostered local artists and craftspeople for over 100 years.
Rowan examined, interpreted, and took inspiration from the extensive archive of personal artifacts of Eva, her daughter and granddaughter - who left behind an extraordinary record of their times in letters, journals, publications, albums, photographs, art and artifacts.
This was at a time in 2021 when so many people in the world were immersed in their own domestic settings - but not through their own choice. Indeed even in New Mexico, there were significant restrictions in place due to the global pandemic.
Rowan said: “I totally immersed myself in the world of these three women; I literally wore their clothes, I recreated intimate moments with their objects and took time to really absorb the House and how they would have lived. I sought to capture the duality of the space. In one sense, a reaction to privilege and aristocracy, and at the same time, a celebration of autonomy in the American Southwest as independent women.”
Ellen Stone, CEO of Public Offerings Ltd., said: “This is a powerful selection of work inspired by an era when women were traditionally powerless. Photographic art can sometimes feel inaccessible but Amanda’s hyper-real style cuts through - using humour and playfulness to engage people in a conversation about much bigger topics. She injects extravagance and the extraordinary into these ‘ordinary’, domestic settings, taking inspiration from the three generations of women to question how traditional gender roles have evolved over the last century.”
The exhibition of Rowan’s work - running from May 20 - June 30, 2022 - introduces the evolution of the Acequia Madre House from a historic house museum to a space for contemporary art that engages with history.
About Amanda Rowan
Amanda Rowan's provocative still life and self-portrait images depict playful and sensual moments, eliciting humour through an exploration of the power and vulnerability of sexuality. Rowan is both curator and subject in each richly styled vignette depicting moments of mysticism and seduction. Her work explores domestic labor and gender using a mix of visual iconography, including food advertising, vintage pinup, and religious deities.
Rowan has received numerous accolades for her art, including "The Curator Award 2019", by Photo District News (P.D.N.), "Photographer of the Year 2018" by the International Chromatic Photography Publication and the Tokyo International Award for Photography in 2019. Her work has been exhibited internationally at the Carrie Able Gallery, Photo LA, Art Basel, The Wall Street Gallery, The Leica Gallery in Los Angeles. Her images hang in the permanent collection at The Palms Hotel in Las Vegas with Damien Hirst, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and Takashi Murakami.
Rowan graduated Cum Laude from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. After a successful tenure in New York City shooting celebrities, she now lives in Los Angeles, working within the genres of photography and performance art. Rowan is currently a Full-Time Faculty at the Photo Arts Conservatory at the New York Film Academy Los Angeles in both the MFA and BFA programs.