September 18, 2020- October 23, 2020
Taylor Barnes was born in 1993 in Austin, Texas. In 2019, she received an MFA in Fibers from the University of North Texas, where she earned two BFAs in 2015 for both Ceramics and Fibers and served as a Teaching Assistant and Fellow. She has exhibited solo shows at Erin Cluley Gallery, UNT on the Square, Denton Black Film Festival, 500X Gallery, and at Big Medium in Austin, TX, running concurrently with her outdoor installation for Round 14 of the Cage Match Project outside The Museum of Human Achievement.
Round 14: (Un)box by Austin-based artist taylor barnes transforms the cage into an escape shelter. Wood, fallen limbs, nails, and fiber form a cage within a cage. Inspired by her research on barracoons, a type of barracks used historically for the temporary captivity of enslaved people or criminals, barnes aims to re-conceptualize the notion of confinement. Her construction of three crate-like forms acknowledge the veiled histories of “people as cargo” recontextualizing the structures as safe havens of escape. This timely installment evokes notions of the unknown, limitations and the privilege of a certain future.
Taylor Barnes is an interdisciplinary fibers artist creating work that expresses personal experiences dealing with race, identity, and social critique. With a research-based approach on history and its permanent effects on the present, her work explores the internal and external complexities of being a Black woman in America today.
Taylor Barnes lives and works in Austin, Texas, and recently received her MFA in Fibers from the University of North Texas. She has exhibited solo exhibitions at Erin Cluley Gallery, Dallas, TX; 500X Gallery, Dallas, TX, and has an upcoming solo exhibition at Big Medium , Austin, TX. Her numerous group exhibitions include Untitled Art Fair in Miami, FL and Dallas Art Fair, Dallas TX. Barnes was honored with the Sylvia Houlgand Emerging Artist Award for Make Art with Purpose 2020. Along with her exhibition with Cage Match project installation, she will have a solo show at Big Medium in Austin TX entitled “Pressure” which will run from September 12 – October 10 2020.
