I just finished listening to a song called, “Me and my Husband” by recording artist Mitski, at the suggestion of the artist whose work is hanging in Hank and Dolly’s Gallery at the Harrison Center during April. Sophia Fisher is the artist, and she’ll be giving us a fresh new take on a theme that has been impacting humanity for many hundreds of years. The show is called, “In the Corner, Taking Up Space”, and it features beautiful, somewhat surreal imagery to express a woman’s experience of feeling invisible without the support of a man.

The imagery and influences of this show are very powerful for having come from such a young creator. Sophia is a Senior at University High School who plans to embark on a degree in Museum Studies and Art History in the future. She is also lucky enough to be doing an internship with Harrison Center artist and curator Kyle Ragsdale. In addition to her interest in curation and Art History, Sophia is obviously a talented painter. As a result this series of oil paintings on board is esthetically pleasing and thought provoking as well.

My introduction to Sophia and her artwork feels very serendipitous. Is it a coincidence that the book on my night stand is called, “Casandra Speaks” by Elizabeth Lesser? The book is an exploration of the mythology and cultural narratives that humanity has embraced for hundreds of years that perpetuate the willingness and expectation for women to relinquish their own voices and allow men to do all the talking. When I spoke with Sophia, she described the experience of feeling as if she had difficulty being listened to in leadership positions without connection or support from a male, even in high school.

In addition to the song by Mitski, Sophia was influenced visually and conceptually by the film work of Alfred Hitchcock. She is inspired not only by his stark color pallet, but also by the way he gives his icy, soft spoken female characters little in the way of substance. They appear in the films to be used “for his male characters to move around”. This objectification of women is expressed by the artist creating portrayals of women as inanimate household objects.

It is very moving to me to see the work of this bright young woman processing her experience of women's roles in our culture, because it mimics my own. While it makes me sad that we are still facing these issues, it makes me smile to know that she has discovered the way that we all can access our power regardless of the forces that seem content with our silence. We access our power and our voices when we create. Sophia told me that the pandemic inspired her to take her creativity into overdrive, resulting in the work of “In the Corner, Taking Up Space” and other works of art as well. I’m excited to see where her talent, creativity and drive will take this expressive artist in the future.