Everything's Fine
by Gwenn Seemel
Showing until July 16
Artist Gwenn Seemel's Everything's Fine series is about how everything is not. Designed to acknowledge that many of us are struggling with anxiety, depression, or PTSD, these paintings are meant to let you know that you are not alone.
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MEET THE ARTIST
Gwenn Seemel
Gwenn Seemel
Gwenn Liberty Seemel is my full name. My American father wanted it to be Liberty Bell Seemel—after the great Philadelphian e-flat chimer—but made the compromise when my French mother pointed out that the famous ding-dong is, in fact, cracked.
Born in Saudi Arabia in 1981, I was raised partly in a small village in Brittany and partly in San Francisco, on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples.
In 2003, I earned my BA summa cum laude from Willamette University. That same year, I launched my career in Portland, Oregon, which rests on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, and many other tribes.
I’ve been a full-time artist for twenty years, sharing my art throughout the US and also in France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Canada. These days, I make my home in Lambertville, New Jersey, on the unceded lands of the Lenni-Lenape people.
My partner and I don’t have kids, and, though that decision was originally inspired by my endometriosis, we’re happy with our choice. In fact, for me it ended up being a catalyst to more fully embrace my queerness—an identity that’s all about questioning traditional ideas about what women, nonbinary people, and men are allowed to do with their lives. You could call me childfree, meatfree, godfree, and genderfree, but only if you remember that I’m not a negation.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Everything's Fine
When a deadly airborne virus whose longterm impact is still to be determined has taken over the world, hugging becomes a risk. When systemic racism and misogyny remain as all- pervasive as ever, connecting feels impossible. And when the political divide is no longer between left and right, but between democracy and xenophobic authoritarianism, people have a hard time remembering that we’re far more similar than we are different.
Amidst all the divisions, art is a necessity, just like air, water, food, shelter, and health care. It’s the love of other humans made tangible across space and time. When a person can’t get a hug from a friend, art is there to make them feel seen and understood. It opens them up to new worlds, helping them to get outside of their own narrow experience, allowing them to become better and more loving.
And that’s only more true when it’s art about mental health. With Everything’s Fine, I want to make it clear that I know that everything’s not. I don’t want anyone to think they’re the only one struggling with anxiety, depression, or PTSD.
These images are a starting place. “I feel like this,” you might say, pointing to one in particular. You could use a postcard of the painting as a bookmark or a digital image as a smartphone background—private reminders that at least one other person, AKA me, has felt like you. You might even use your favorite image as a profile pic or hang a poster where everyone can see it on your next video call. You can speak through these paintings. Instead of struggling to find the right words, these artworks can help you show others how you feel. Or maybe they can help you figure out how to describe what’s going on in your head.
However you use it, Everything’s Fine is meant to belong to you as much as it belongs to me. That’s true of all my work—I place all my images directly in the public domain, free for use by anybody for any reason, without asking permission first—but it’s especially true of this project. These images were designed with you in mind, both because I need to feel like I’m not alone and because I want you to feel that connection as well.
Gwenn Seemel (she)
This August, I’ll be launching a crowdfunding campaign in order to help distribute postcards and posters of these images to schools and public libraries, so that those who need them most can get a hold of them for free. For updates about Everything’s Fine, sign up for my mailing list b going to: gwennseemel.com/monthly