Libby Rowe’s Taming the Chaotic Mind: Combining One’s Inner Dialogue and Art in Gruesome Accuracy
Photo by Haley Bordelon
The Spring 2022 exhibitions at Centenary’s Meadows Museum of Art are all very impressive– shoutout to freshman Riana Seidenberg for her January Exhibit “Frost”– but it is Libby Rowe’s exhibit “Taming the Chaotic Mind” that stands out. The installation was based on the thoughts constantly racing through Rowe’s head. No matter how much someone may talk to others, they are still the only person inside their mind, so it is always startling to see something that captures a person’s inner dialogue. The first time I viewed the exhibit I hadn’t read Rowe’s artist statement yet, so I was thrust into her mind with no warning. Initially, I felt abruptly taken aback. Once I realized what the exhibit was about, I was in awe that someone was able to capture this concept so well. I’d never seen an accurate representation of the intricacies of thought before, so I was very startled to see it on the random Thursday I decided to walk into the museum. In her artist statement, Rowe said “it was recently brought to [her] attention that 15% of people do not have an inner dialogue.” This made her ask: “what do these people have going on inside their heads?” When she was researching this phenomenon, she realized “that [her] head was incredibly noisy all the time.” Which made me think, as someone with a loud head, whose isn’t?
Photo by Haley Bordelon
This installation, currently on the first floor of Meadows, is supposed to be a visual representation of her mind and how the chatter keeps her from getting things done. The photos included are unique to her life, but that doesn’t keep viewers from relating to the chaos presented. Printed images of to-do lists, homework, and news headlines are paired with images of her family and friends. All of these images are arranged to create physical shapes of objects that usually hang, like strings of lights, pennants, birds on telephone lines, swing sets, clothes drying on a line, etc. The part of this piece that stood out to me the most was how the images are incomplete to show “how quick and fleeting this information is experienced mentally.” By including many moving parts, Rowe creates an overwhelming experience for viewers– myself included. When I saw the headlines and family images she chose, I instantly thought of my twitter feed and how I will see a cute bodega cat photo right after a “BREAKING NEWS:” thread about Russia and Ukraine. She’s let us inside her head to see how she experiences the world, but it feels as if Rowe has been inside my head, too. Most people will never know what each other’s mind is truly like, but with “Taming the Chaotic Mind,” Rowe reminds us that we are not as alone as we may feel.