A portion of proceeds from this exhibit will be donated to Richmond’s Mutual Aid Disaster Relief. “MAD RVA, aims to create a support system in response to COVID-19 and the effects it has had on Richmonders, including supply shortage, job losses and quarantine. We operate collectively and are primarily functioning as a supply delivery for folks who cannot access medicine, food and other vital goods.”

This show is about the process of confronting my family history and the way it has shaped my identity. I grew up in Louisiana, and my family has lived in Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee for several generations. This body of work is my first attempt to reckon with what it means to be from the Deep South, as a white woman whose family has had considerable power and privilege in places where power and privilege have been systematically denied to people of color. I’ve recently started confronting the fact that many of these racist and exclusionary systems were built and sustained by members of my own family.

I’ve been painting from old family photographs for years; through working on this show, I’ve begun to perceive these photos less like aesthetically pleasing parts of a composition and more like documents recording relatives who had lives that impacted the people around them. Living Room with Family Portraits is an installation made up of twenty five individual paintings of family photographs and personal memories. The portraits depict such things as my dad at 20 wearing his naval uniform, my mother at 23 reading on a couch, my grandmothers, my siblings, and a young black woman who worked for my father’s family in Mississippi in the 1960’s called Peaches.

While making this installation, I learned that one of my grandfathers was a segregationist and a member of the White Citizens Council, an organization formed in the wake of Brown v. Board known for using violence and economic means to promote white supremacy. Shocked and saddened, I intended to leave him out of the show entirely before realizing that denying my family history would neither erase nor absolve it. My grandfather’s portrait is included, but it is removed from the wall and placed on the ground as a sign of protest. The painting “A fraught attempt to reckon with the legacy of my racist grandfather” which depicts me in the act of crossing out and cutting up photos of my grandfather from a family photo album also addresses my discomfort and disgust with some of my own family’s history. These works are an initial step in processing my emotions, upbringing, and how my background can shape my future and the futures of those around me. This work has given me more questions than answers, and this is just the beginning of a long process of grappling with my privilege and role in systemic racism. How have I used my life to contribute to or fight against white supremacy? What can we do in the present to dismantle the transgressions of our ancestors who inevitably play a role in our identities?

Sophie Treppendahl is a painter living and working in Chicago, IL. She graduated from The College of Charleston in 2013 with a BA in Painting and Printmaking. She has shared her work nationally in solo and group exhibitions including shows at Quirk Gallery, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Johansson Projects, and The Southern Gallery, among others. Her work is in many private and corporate collections including the permanent art collection of Quirk Hotel.