Patterns of Refuge

Throughout history, there have been myriad displacements of large human populations. Many have occurred to avoid persecution, terrorism, enslavement, and genocide. More stable and wealthier nations have helped with these refugee crises – to varying degrees. As I produced this work in the second decade of the 21st century, I researched the art and literature of 20th century genocides and mass migrations, such as the Holocaust, and applied artistry and visual technology to respond to this all-too-persistent plight of humanity.  The Syrian refugee crisis, the “Trump Travel Bans,” ethnophobia, and the rise of white supremacism only intensifies the need to look at, reflect upon and discuss such plagues of our day, a repeating pattern laid down long ago. In this exhibition, I present varied depictions of this forced emigration – the flight from terror and danger – from ancient times to the present with a focus on colonialism and the Middle East/Syrian situation. While the experience of war, genocide, and slavery are obviously wretched, I seek to seduce the viewer with color, pattern and materials, only to then offer up this painful subtext.  I am not interested in ghastly imagery, but rather in luring someone in and creating a thought-provoking moment.

My concern in this work is making that connection between genocide, colonization (Africa and beyond),  and displacement, using present-day Middle Eastern war as an example, thereby compelling us to consider our own role in providing refuge. To illustrate this, the scroll series Take Refuge (1 – 4) uses an intersection of software to intermingle three main representative elements. The first is the Dutch Wax Print (Ankara pattern), symbolic of African colonialism and post-colonialism.  The second is abstract expressionist painting, taking cues or references from two spiritually oriented painters, Hilma af Klint (sometimes considered the first female abstract expressionist) and Richard Pousette-Dart, who likened art to the spiritual refuge for the soul. And the third, perhaps, most important element is the profile of the bombed/ violently destroyed home placed near the bottom of each scroll. The profiles are created by applying a digital drawing algorithm to online Syrian war photographs, and can also be seen in the artists' books above them. The altered books above the scrolls utilize computer controlled paper cutting for complex silhouettes.  These digital artworks somewhat subtly deal with expulsion and refuge of different times and types throughout history. we are inviting viewers to be pensive, watchful and considerate about the rights of refugees and to perhaps grow/expand their perception in the process.

My intention is to focus on digital pattern “engines” in software such as Adobe Illustrator, and available  via online apps, especially those created by specialized digital art vendors.  Besides the patterns expressing a vital connection to periods in history, the idea of pattern also speaks to the troubling repeating patterns of xenophobia, genocide and war. I was fortunate enough to be able to install this large digital (and interactive) room-sized piece in a lovely gallery gracing a new building in one of the urban universities of New Jersey. The building interestingly houses both the library/information center and the Human Rights Institute. It was very fitting to present work that involves both information processing and social justice in this space.

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Biography

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Leslie Nobler works in digital and mixed media art,  producing artist’s books, surface design, and unique prints. Her recent work reinvents/reinterprets sacred objects, handmade textiles and artifacts using alternative digital print techniques. She exhibits extensively, including the New Jersey State Museum, Noyes and Montclair Art Museums (NJ), Old-Main Art Museum (AZ), Athenaeum Museum (PA),  Kemper Museum of Art (MO), Afrigraphics Pretoria, and International Symposia on Digital Art in Bangkok and London. Nobler, honored by multiple inclusions in the SIGGRAPH (Worldwide Competition) Art Gallery and the International Symposium on Electronic Art, is an Art Professor at William Paterson University (NJ). Her work is represented in museum and university gallery collections, such as the University of Wisconsin Artist's Book Collection. A recipient of Surface Design Association and Puffin Artist’s Grants, she earned her BFA at University of Michigan, School of Art, MA at New York Institute of Technology and MFA at City University of New York - Hunter College.