On Thursday, May 12, Ava-Rose Beech ’16 shared her artwork in the upstairs gallery space. The gallery consisted of handmade sculptures and photos Beech took wearing the sculptures at her favorite childhood park.

In her artist statement, Beech explained that she “wanted to explore the notion that women need to stay delicate and young, both in terms of physical beauty and psychologically look at the social pressure on women to stay innocent and pure, and that to be a woman and explore womanhood is dirty or impure.”

Beech challenges traditional gender constructs in her work by presenting both the values of innocence and adulthood within a single exhibition. She calls the display “A Day In The Park,” due to the fact that a portion of it was filmed at Clover Park, where she often visited as a child. Located in Santa Monica, the park is filled with tennis courts, sports fields, playgrounds and picnic areas.

The video aspect of the exhibition displays Beech strolling through Clover Park, sitting in different areas. The sculptures align with the video, as she “made the video to experience what [she] was trying to evoke in that sculpture, in [herself].”

Beech made the larger sculpture first, and the second one was inspired by the head of the original in order to make it “wearable.”

“I was really inspired by the use of her art within her photos. The use of art within her overall photography displays the creativity which inspires me in my future artistic endeavors,” Sara Rabinowitz ’17 said.