By Dirk Langeveld

S’manga, Amsterdam, 2016, 2016 © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson, New York

WESTPORT – Prepare to be challenged. An upcoming exhibition at MoCA\CT aims to inspire visitors to think deeply about current issues.

Enough Already will open at MoCA\CT on Thursday, November 13th. The exhibition includes a selection of more than 80 works from the private collection of Sara M. and Michelle Vance Waddell, who have amassed a large collection of works by modern and contemporary women artists.

The Waddells have spent a few decades building the collection, which reflects their “impassioned commitment to amplifying emergent voices and presenting powerful artistic statements around issues of gender equality, domesticity, motherhood, personal identity, and social transformation.”

More than just a display

Originally entitled Riveting and organized by the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio, the exhibition was offered to MoCA\CT as a traveling exhibition. MoCA\CT’s Visual Arts Advisory Committee did extensive work to organize Enough Already, including a minor alteration of the list of works to be featured.

“As a contemporary art museum, we strive to do more than simply display artworks — we seek to create meaningful, thought-provoking experiences that connect visitors with the art, the artists, and current issues,” said Pamela Hovland, Acting Executive Director of MoCA\CT. “This exhibition will likely provoke curiosity, conversation, and sometimes discomfort.” 

Hovland said the show was selected in part due to the wide range of voices it represents. Artworks represent both established and emergent artists, as well as a variety of cultures and lived experiences. 

“Visitors are encouraged to think critically and feel deeply, to ask questions like ‘Who made this and why?’ or ‘What does this say about society?’ or in the case of the current show, ‘How does this art challenge traditional notions of gender or beauty or meaning?’” said Hovland.

To further connect the audience with the exhibition, Enough Already will feature an interactive component inviting audiences to share their concerns with current issues and reflect on the way these issues are being presented by the artists. 

From neon signs to political signs

Enough Already is named for a neon work by Deborah Kass, one of the works included in the exhibition. Other pieces cover a wide range of mediums, including painting, textiles, mixed media, photography, sculpture, and more.

One of the largest pieces is a collage by Shelly Brenner Baird, created from discarded political signs. Baird has used letters and word fragments from these signs to construct the text of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which granted women’s suffrage, to show the “deeper truths beyond conflicting positions represented in the signs’ original forms.”

Lewis Derogene, MoCA\CT’s Head of Exhibitions, said a painting of Breonna Taylor by Erin Smith Glenn “may cause some discomfort for viewers who turn away from the realities of injustice and tragedy.” Taylor was shot and killed in her home by police officers in Louisville, Ky., in a 2020 incident that sparked widespread protests.

Derogene said other works “confront the experiences of those often cast as outsiders,” including Sara Rahbar’s mixed media Flag #55: Land of the Free and Zanele Muholi’s self-portrait photograph S’Manga Amsterdam. A more lighthearted piece separate from the Waddell Collection, Phrases in My Head by New Canaan artist Constance Old, creates a mural-like assembly of text-based collages.

“We hope this exhibition sparks meaningful conversations that are often avoided for the sake of comfort and blissful ignorance. Ideally, it will inspire change—or at least the conversations that lead to it—by breaking through barriers of censorship and prompting action in areas such as health, politics, and beyond,” said Derogene. “These issues affect not only women but also everyone who benefits from their wisdom, love, teaching, and inspiration.”

Visitors should be aware that some of the featured artwork includes nude images and addresses topics including sexual relations, reproductive rights, and violence.

Exhibition programming

Enough Already marks the culmination of “On the Art of Collecting,” a programming series MoCA\CT has offered for the past six months. The opening of the exhibition will take place alongside a moderated panel where Sara Vance Waddell will speak out her own experience in collecting artwork.

The full schedule of programming associated with Enough Already includes:

For more information on the exhibition and its programming, visit mocact.org.

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