Every spring semester, Fordham University dedicates its gallery spaces at the Lincoln Center campus — the Ildiko Butler Gallery and Susan Lipani Gallery — to graduating seniors for their “Visual Arts Senior Exhibitions.” Students who wish to display their art are suggested to take a Senior Seminar: Studio Art course during the preceding fall semester — these featured artists were taught by Casey Ruble, associate clinical professor of painting and drawing — and are guided through the process of producing their artwork until their final exhibition is displayed.
Although the pieces were not created with complementary intent, as a viewer, it struck me that both pieces personally evoked consistent and analogous emotions.
Arina Medvedeva and Maureen Segota’s, both Fordham College at Lincoln Center ’24, exhibitions have been on view since April 6 at the Butler Gallery. Their works tie poignant themes of grief and loneliness together, despite being inspired by vastly different situations and social origins. Although the pieces were not created with complementary intent, as a viewer, it struck me that both pieces personally evoked consistent and analogous emotions.
Medvedeva, an international student from Russia, used her nationality and personal history to construct her exhibition “Devolution.” The word devolution relates to the state of her relationship with her home country, two years after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In Medvedeva’s artist statement, she poses a central question: “Is it possible to go back to a place that no longer exists?”
“I would say it signifies my past immigration experience and my relationship with my country that I left. I’m not the person I used to be,” Medvedeva said. “My country is also not the place that it used to be when I left it. And I have to form some kind of relationship with it, expressing an ease and anxiety and also maybe anger and sadness.”
Medvedeva’s artistic process was unique and varied: She utilized block printing, acrylic paint and water-based paints, allowing each piece to stand as a distinctive creation.
“Arina knew from the get-go what she wanted to do and just went about doing it,” Ruble said. “In some ways ‘guiding’ her was more about getting out of the way and letting her do her thing.”
Conversely, Segota took a more unified approach to her exhibition: “Held.”
“The concept of shadows signifies the temporary nature; they represent memories and the fleeting nature of life.” Maureen Segota, FCLC ’24
The exhibition features photographs and pieces created from wood cutouts and image collaging. Large hands are a central motif of her work. The viewer of the exhibit is then invited to use a flashlight — provided at the gallery — to cast a light on her pieces and create “shadows.”
“The concept of shadows signifies the temporary nature; they represent memories and the fleeting nature of life. The reality of no guarantees, how quickly things can change, and acknowledging the beauty in what was once is now gone,” Segota said.
In her artistic statement, Segota details how her piece was inspired by the shadows of the flora and fauna of Croatia, which she explored with her husband on a trip for their 30th wedding anniversary. But rather than depicting the imagery itself, she was more attracted to the idea of their shadows.
“While photographing the shadows, I had no idea these images would become part of my senior thesis exhibit. Upon reflection, I realized this was an expression of my grief over the recent loss of my brother,” she said. “The connection between the other shadows I captured while exploring this unknown environment and the flora and fauna shadows I was holding in my hand that I was drawn to photograph — the desire to hold on to what would be gone in a moment.”
She utilizes a constant medium of balsa-wood cutouts and image collaging throughout each of her pieces. The use of these varied materials — paper and wood — served as an opportunity for Segota to “connote lightness and softness” in an exhibit that was otherwise emotionally taxing to the viewer.
Segota shared that her favorite piece she worked on from the exhibition, “Rich,” depicts an outstretched hand that is “holding” a collaged silhouette of her late brother, Rich, as well as the shadows of a sea holly. The piece serves as the centerpiece of her exhibition, placed just below her name.
“As the initial piece created in this series, it began the story and led me to explore the many shadows I photographed and how I would use them to develop my thesis. It is the beginning of remembering,” she said.
Segota hopes that her exhibition will serve as “A reminder of life’s fragility and how precious each moment is. To pause and take notice of things as simple as a shadow.”
And, according to Ruble, it seems to be fulfilling her intent.
“The other day I went to the gallery to adjust the lighting, and I overheard Arina giving an older man a walkthrough of her show,” Ruble said. “At the same time, there was a solitary younger man looking very carefully, very slowly at Maureen’s work … He stood at the pedestal holding her comments book for a long time, thoughtfully composing his message to her. I waited for him to finish before I entered the gallery. Some things are important not to interrupt.”
Medvedeva and Segota’s exhibitions will be featured in the Ildiko Butler Gallery until April 20.
