We are pleased to announce I’ve Been Trying to Reach You, a solo exhibition of recent works by Shantel Miller. This is Miller’s first time showing with the gallery and her inaugural solo in Boston. Join us for an Artist Reception on Friday, March 1st from 5-8pm.

Miller continues her ongoing exploration of interiority through practices of looking that reflect an inward and outward mode of being. Collectively, this exhibition attempts to resolve underlying interpersonal issues by engaging in a transformative space that reveals human longings. Working in this way, the body is situated in contemplative moments of solitude and community offering a conversation about presentations of the public and private self. Through portraiture and still-life painting, each piece offers insight into the inner lives of the matriarchs in the artist’s family and the women in her church. Referencing prophetic messages, proverbs, and stories from the Gospel, Miller views the practice of hermeneutics as both emerging and integral to her work in addressing intersections of faith, gender, race, and identity. Working in this way, various Biblical symbolism is explored in the style of realism and keen deployment of color as a method for processing lived experiences and as a source of healing. Scripture is both incorporated and interpreted using handwritten notes and recurring motifs of waterfalls to consider the nature of the soul. In addition, the body is depicted metaphorically in the form of a shattering vessel, transparent film, and merging streams. As the artist reflects on how wisdom and grief flow through generations, she considers how pain is stored in the body, seeking relief through the act of making. She hopes that this process of renewal transcends beyond the people in her life to those who encounter the work.

Shantel Miller is a visual artist of Jamaican descent whose interdisciplinary practice incorporates drawing, painting, printmaking, and photography to communicate complexities within spirituality and existentialism in representations of Blackness. While exploring intersections of race, gender, and religion she pulls from personal narrative as a departure point for understanding broader social realities. In 2021, Shantel graduated from Boston University with an MFA in Painting and received the Dedalus Foundation Fellowship in Sculpture and Painting, the Ester B. Khan Award, and the Elizabeth Greenshields Award. Her artwork has been acquired by private collections around the world and she has participated in numerous group shows, residencies, and art fairs in North America including The Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto, The Varley Art Gallery of Markham, the Nia Center for the Arts Artist-in-Residence Program, the Converging Liberations Residency at Mass MoCA, NADA Miami and Future Fair in NYC. Shantel is the recent recipient of the Artadia Award and the Ujima Boston Project’s 2022-2024 Artist Fellowship.

Dates: February 16 - March 23, 2024

Hours:
Tuesday: By appointment only
Wednesday - Saturday: 11am – 5 pm

Location: Anderson Yezerski Gallery, 460 Harrison Avenue - A16, Boston, MA 02118

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