91��ɫ

Amy Cannestra �06 (Communication Design) is opening her newest solo exhibition at Appleton�s . �The Body Problem� explores self-acceptance and how we view our own bodies through a multitude of media. The exhibition celebrates its opening night on Friday, January 12, 2024 during an event that is free and open to the public, as well as a Meet the Artist event on February 23, 2024. �The Body Problem� will run through May 12, 2024.

�A lot of my work has to do with the self-acceptance of the body that we live in,� explains Cannestra, who is also part of the Madison-based group . �How we see ourselves and how we portray ourselves can be very different things. We put a lot of expectations onto our bodies. It�s not always positive.� Cannestra�s work in �The Body Problem� is on display in her first solo exhibition at the Trout Museum of Art.

�If we had to put together our ideal selves, what would be that ideal self? Is it for a certain time, is it for a certain place, is it for a certain audience? All those questions make the ideal very different from scenario to scenario,� continues Cannestra. �The Body Problem� is a series of six two-minute looping videos displayed on monitor screens through the gallery space, as well as small, square books. At the back of the gallery, the videos are projected onto a full-size wall.

�The different medias are because that�s how we experience everything now: through different lenses,� explains Cannestra. �How we present ourselves on the screen is very different than how we present ourselves in the physical form and the printed form. It�s this investigation of the body through the different ways we communicate.�

As an artist, Cannestra is no stranger to letting her various artistic practices intersect with one another. For example, she recently opened , a short-term rental and creative services space for Milwaukee-area artists. Her role as Milwaukee Art Museum�s graphic designer and her undergraduate education in Communication Design work together with her fine art practice, which she pursued at UW-Madison in their MFA program.

�I don�t think that either one can exist without the other one,� says Cannestra. �The communication designer in me is really focused on, am I communicating everything right to the audience? Is it visually compelling to a certain audience? And then the visual, fine artist part of me is asking the opposite way. Am I saying what I need to say through the visuals?�

Cannestra continues, �When I was at 91��ɫ, I would be the first person to say graphic design isn�t fine art! It was this very narrow-minded idea that graphic design is just advertising. But really, it�s such a great way to speak to people in mediums that are sometimes just a little bit easier to dive into.�

Coming up next, Cannestra has taken on another solo exhibition�with entirely new work�coming up at in Waukesha, WI in mid-January. “I must be missing something. A solo exhibition by Amy Cannestra” runs January 25 � February 25, 2024 at the Joyce Paddock Bliss Gallery, Carroll University, Waukesha, WI.

View �The Body Problem� at the through May 12, 2024. Keep up with Cannestra on and learn more about 91��ɫ�s Fine Art and Communication Design programs!