Support Independent Arts Journalism As an independent publication, we rely on readers like you to fund our journalism and keep our reporting and criticism free and accessible to all. If you value our coverage and want to support more of it, consider becoming a member today. CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee — Entering Hand to Mouth , visitors are greeted by Todd Anthony Johnson’s six-minute performance video, “FIELD HOLLA” (2015).
Showing the artist screaming amid a verdant wilderness setting, it is a jarring introduction to the exhibition, and an immediate immersion into the art. The figure remains largely motionless but the camera cuts to different angles of varying proximity — sometimes cropped close to his face, other times wide enough to nest him in the landscape. Embodiment and its expressions recur as themes in this exhibition.
In the context of the “Bible Belt,” the unofficial name for the American South due to the prevalence of Christianity, an adoptive religion to people of color after violent evangelizing efforts by White colonizers, the title Hand to Mouth suggests the Christian rite of communion. Yet the artworks that most stood out commented not on righteous deeds as a path to divine salvation, but on reclamation of bodily autonomy. Sign up for our free newsletters to get the latest art news, reviews, and opinions from Hyperallergic.
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