Where Words Falter: Art and Empathy

Laurel Nakadate, January 1, 2010 (from 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears), 2011, chromogenic print on paper, 50 x 40 inches, Tang Teaching Museum collection, gift of Tony Podesta, 2020.17.1

Installation view, Where Words Falter: Art and Empathy, Tang Teaching Museum, 2022, photo by Shawn LaChapelle

Installation view, Martin Kersel’s Wishing Well in Where Words Falter: Art and Empathy, Tang Teaching Museum, 2022, photo by Shawn LaChapelle

Installation view, Where Words Falter: Art and Empathy, Tang Teaching Museum, 2022, photo by Shawn LaChapelle

Josh Faught, Housecleaning, 2009/2018, hand-crocheted indigo-dyed hemp, machine-knit acrylic yarn, spray paint, political pins, laminated poster advertising housecleaning service, denim, sequins, garden trellis, 96 x 48 inches, Tang Teaching Museum collection, gift of Eileen and Michael Cohen, 2018.1.62

Two Black girls pose with their hands on their hips in front of an ice cream shop with an illuminated sign that reads “Lady D’s 3 Faith 88 Lunch.”

Dawoud Bey, Two Young Girls in Front of Lady D’s [from Harlem, U.S.A.], 1976, printed 2017, gelatin silver print, 8 x 11 7/8 in., Tang Teaching Museum collection, The Jack Shear Collection of Photography at the Tang Teaching Museum, 2017.40.4

Nan Goldin, Nan on Brian’s lap, Nan’s birthday, New York City 1981 [from The Ballad of Sexual Dependency], 1981, Cibachrome print, 11 x 14 in., Tang Teaching Museum collection, The Jack Shear Collection of Photography at the Tang Teaching Museum, 2018.39.1.1

In a black and white photograph, an elderly woman wearing a sheer dressing gown faces us, sitting on a bed with a handbag and pile of clothing by her side.

Diane Arbus, Neil Selkirk, Woman in her negligee, N.Y.C. 1966, 1966, printed later, gelatin silver print on Agfa paper, 19 7/8 x 16 in., Tang Teaching Museum collection, Gift of Alan Mark and Jeffrey Fraenkel, 2015.40.18

In a multigenerational moment, visitors to Where Words Falter: Art and Empathy contribute their responses to the exhibition for a forthcoming zine at the Tang Teaching Museum, photo by Shawn LaChapelle

Where Words Falter: Art and Empathy presents art from the Tang collection, which together explores how we define, practice, and experience compassion and connection. Empathy—the word derived from the German Einfüling, which translates literally to in-feeling—is a nuanced idea, and this exhibition asks visitors to consider their own understandings of it. What does it mean to recognize, share, and feel in the thoughts or experiences of another?

Through photography, painting, textile, and moving image—including many recent acquisitions that have not been shown at the Tang before—the exhibition will reflect on the ways art can support empathic feeling.

Art can be an emotional necessity, a tool for communing with one’s self and others. It can also help us make sense of the complexities of the past and present, offering ways to imagine and adapt toward a different—and perhaps more just—world. Where Words Falter encourages active aesthetic and emotional engagement and asks visitors to consider the ways in which empathy can induce more socially conscious action beyond the museum.

Where Words Falter: Art and Empathy is curated by Associate Curator Rebecca McNamara and is supported by the Friends of the Tang.

Chantal Joffe
Esme with a Guinea Pig, 2012
oil on board

Edward Schwartz
Injured freight railroad brakeman on a binge with O'Conner, Chatham Square - Bowery, New York City, 1949
gelatin silver print

Burk Uzzle
Coretta Scott King with Harry Belafonte, at the funeral of her husband Martin Luther King Jr. Atlanta, Georgia, April 9, 1968, 1968
gelatin silver print

Laurel Nakadate
January 9, 2010 [from 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears], 2011
chromogenic print on paper

Laurel Nakadate
January 28, 2010 [from 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears], 2011
chromogenic print on paper

Wendy Ewald
Tidi, Harijan (Untouchable Caste), 1989-1990
gelatin silver print

Tracey Moffatt
Always the Sheep, 1987 [from Scarred for Life II], 1999
photolithograph on Arches paper

Laurel Nakadate
January 10, 2010 [from 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears], 2011
chromogenic print on paper

Wayne Miller
Boot, 1941-1942
photograph

Tracey Moffatt
Mother’s Reply, 1976 [from Scarred for Life II], 1999
photolithograph on Arches paper

James Barnor
Eva, London, c. 1965, printed 2018
gelatin silver print

John Sonsini
Louie and Fidel, 2004
oil on canvas

Robert Lyons
Untitled (Syria), 1983
chromogenic print

Flor Garduño
Santiago, Guatemala [from Witnesses of Time], 1995
gelatin silver print

Unrecorded artist
title unknown, 1960
gelatin silver print

Ken Ohara
#120 [from One], 1970
gelatin silver print

Bill Owens
My wife and I don’t like the term “head shop.” We are in the youth-oriented business. In seven years we have never been hassled by the police. We don’t use drugs; we want to protect our livelihood. [from Working], 1975
gelatin silver print

Noa Eshkol
Window to the Night, 1981
cotton, cotton lawn, flannelette, twill, cretonne, jersey, percale, piqué, poplin, satin, taffeta, and silk repp with lurex threads, crepe

Michael Joseph
Otter Pig, Austin, TX [from Lost and Found], 2016
archival pigment print

Larry Clark
Untitled [from Tulsa], 1963, printed later
gelatin silver print

Erin M. Riley
Believe Me, 2020
wool, cotton

Eve Fowler
Untitled [from Hustlers], 1997
Kodak Professional paper

Laurel Nakadate
January 1, 2010 [from 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears], 2011
chromogenic print on paper

George Hurrell
Marlene Dietrich, 1938, printed 1979-1980
gelatin silver print

Tracey Moffatt
Birth Certificate, 1962 [from Scarred for Life I], 1994
photolithograph on Arches paper

Diane Arbus
Woman in her negligee, N.Y.C. 1966, 1966, printed later
gelatin silver print on Agfa paper

Laurel Nakadate
January, 2, 2010 [from 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears], 2011
chromogenic print on paper

Laurel Nakadate
January 6, 2010 [from 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears], 2011
chromogenic print on paper

Laurel Nakadate
January 7, 2010 [from 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears], 2011
chromogenic print on paper

Roni Horn
Untitled [from You are the Weather], 1996
chromogenic print

Laurel Nakadate
January 14, 2010 [from 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears], 2011
chromogenic print on paper

Laurel Nakadate
January 16, 2010 [from 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears], 2011
chromogenic print on paper

Roger Mertin
Karen with Lyndon, Richmond, Virginia, 1988
chromogenic print

Deborah Luster
E.C.P.P.F. 40 (Zack K. Oakes, Transylvania, Louisiana) [from One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana], 1998
silver emulsion on aluminum

Jennifer Bornstein
Fairfax Branch, Los Angeles Public Library, 161 South Gardner Street, Los Angeles [from Public Libraries and Basketball Courts], 1996-1997
chromogenic print

Laurel Nakadate
January 24, 2010 [from 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears], 2011
chromogenic print on paper

Danielle St. Laurent
The Latta/Siomkos Family In Quarantine, 2020
digital chromogenic print

Lewis W. Hine
A Young German Just Arrived at Ellis Island, 1910, printed before 1938
gelatin silver contact print

Nikolay Bakharev
Relationship #36, 1980-1985
gelatin silver print

Lucien Clergue
Violinist [from The saltimbanques (Circus People)], 1954, printed later
gelatin silver print

Gillian Wearing
Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say. I HAVE BEEN CERTIFIED AS MILDLY INSANE!, 1992-1993
chromogenic print mounted on aluminum

A young woman in a 19th century black and white photograph sits in a chair and raises a glass.

Ernest J. Bellocq
Untitled [Storyville Portrait], c. 1912, printed c. 1970s
gold-toned gelatin silver printing-out-paper print

Unrecorded artist
title unknown, c. 1960s
color photograph

Laurel Nakadate
January 22, 2010 [from 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears], 2011
chromogenic print on paper

Jess T. Dugan
Gloria, 70, Chicago, IL, 2016, published 2018
interview: archival pigment print on Canson Edition Etching Rag | photograph: archival pigment print on Hahnemühle FineArt Photo Rag Pearl

Joseph F. Rock
Tsemoling, the Boy God of Choni, China, a farmer’s 4-year-old son declared by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the Tibetan King, c. 1925-1927
gelatin silver print on clay-coated paper with linen backing

Donna Ferrato
Rita (Portrait of an Unbeatable Woman), 1984
archival pigment print on paper

Nan Goldin
Nan on Brian’s lap, Nan’s birthday, New York City 1981 [from The Ballad of Sexual Dependency], 1981
Cibachrome print

Laurel Nakadate
January 11, 2010 [from 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears], 2011
chromogenic print on paper

Erika Stone
Market Seller, Turkey, 1997
gelatin silver print

Tracey Moffatt
Brother was Mother, 1983 [from Scarred for Life II], 1999
photolithograph on Arches paper

Dawoud Bey
Two Young Girls in Front of Lady D’s [from Harlem, U.S.A.], 1976, printed 2017
gelatin silver print

Josh Faught
Housecleaning, 2009/2018
hand-crocheted indigo-dyed hemp, machine-knit acrylic yarn, spray paint, political pins, laminated poster advertising housecleaning service, denim, sequins, garden trellis

Gillian Wearing
Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say. WICKED AND WILD!, 1992-1993
chromogenic print mounted on aluminum

Roger Ballen
Man Holding Cat, 1995, printed 2000
selenium-toned gelatin silver print on Ilford Multigrade paper

Tracey Moffatt
Doll Birth, 1972 [from Scarred for Life I], 1994
photolithograph on Arches paper

A black and white photograph of two young, dark-skinned people, one male and one female, wearing white masks standing next to each other in front of an urban landscape.

Isaac Scott
June 19th, 2020. Malcom X Memorial Park, 2020
archival pigment print

A black and white photograph of a nude, larger bodied woman reclining on a leather chair and ottoman in front of an open window with a curtain, as light fills the room. A fan is on a small table across from her.

Laura Aguilar
In Sandy’s Room (Self Portrait), 1990
black-and-white photograph

Laurel Nakadate
January 27, 2010 [from 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears], 2011
chromogenic print on paper

Unrecorded artist
title unknown, n.d.
gelatin silver print

Andrea Modica
Ray Suplee and Kraig Hawkins, Oneonta Yankees [from Minor League], 1992
platinum-palladium print

Kwame Brathwaite
Untitled (Riis beach with Jimmy, Kwame and Elombe), 1963, printed 2018
archival pigment print

Gillian Wearing
Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say. INSTEAD OF PAYING 51 POUNDS FOR A GREEN BADGE PULL A LEAF FROM A TREE AND STICK IT IN YOUR HAIR, 1992-1993
chromogenic print mounted on aluminum

Unrecorded artist
title unknown, 1928
gelatin silver print

Marsha Burns
Tyson, Warm Springs, 1991, 1991
gelatin silver print

Elaine Mayes
Draft Dodger, Haight Ashbury, 1968
gelatin silver print

Unrecorded artist
title unknown, n.d.
color photograph

Exhibition Name

Where Words Falter: Art and Empathy

Exhibition Type

Group Exhibitions

Place

Malloy Wing

Dates

Jul 9, 2022 - Dec 18, 2022

Curators

Where Words Falter: Art and Empathy is curated by Associate Curator Rebecca McNamara and is supported by the Friends of the Tang.

Artists

Laura Aguilar, Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Nikolay Bakharev, Roger Ballen, James Barnor, Gianfranco Baruchello, Ernest J. Bellocq, Dawoud Bey, Nayland Blake, Jennifer Bornstein, Kwame Brathwaite, Tommy Brown, Marsha Burns, Larry Clark, Lucien Clergue, Imogen Cunningham, Jeremy Dennis, Mike Disfarmer, Jess T. Dugan, Noa Eshkol, Wendy Ewald, Josh Faught, Donna Ferrato, Eve Fowler, Flor Garduño, Nan Goldin, Lewis Hine, Jim Hodges, Roni Horn, George Hurrell, Shantelle Jennings, Chantal Joffe, Michael Joseph, Martin Kersels, Deborah Luster, Danny Lyon, Robert Lyons, Mary Ellen Mark, Elaine Mayes, Roger Mertin, Wayne F. Miller, Andrea Modica, Tracey Moffatt, Laurel Nakadate, Ken Ohara, Alice O'Malley, Bill Owens, Erin M. Riley, Joseph F. Rock, August Sander, Edward Schwartz, Isaac Scott, Jeffrey Silverthorne, Lorna Simpson, John Sonsini, Danielle St. Laurent, Erika Stone, Burk Uzzle, Gillian Wearing, Jack Welpott, Saya Woolfalk