Letha Wilson

My role as a curator and co-organizer of Salad Days has allowed me to work both in ways that I am familiar with, as a collaborator and creator of exhibitions, and in a newer capacity as a curator. I have always been interested in the relationship between artists and curators, and many of the projects I have organized in the past question the role of the curator and promote discussion of what this role means in contemporary art. As a practicing visual artist, my approach to curating or organizing exhibitions will be forever influenced by this point of view.

Curators are essential to shaping contexts and allowing artists work to be shown and understood by an audience, whether through exhibition, conversation, or writing. Curators and artists, in the best case scenario, should have a working relationship where the discussion of ideas surrounding the work can be exchanged and expounded upon, to the benefit of all involved. I hesitate to consider myself a curator as I am aware of my own limitations: for me a curator needs to take in a lot of work, talk to artists, visit their studios, be accessible – my time has been given to implementing and realizing projects instead of getting out into other artists’ worlds.

The most difficult aspect of curating for me is that moment of making a choice. I feel uncomfortable putting my own likes and dislikes out there for all to see, and in my mind who am I to decide? For Salad Days I had to bite the bullet, but not without trepidation and an awareness of the responsibility I had been granted. In the end I chose the artist whose work I had been thinking about, generally, for a long time and who I felt confidence in to make the most of the exhibition. In the end I am quite pleased that Drew was inspired to create a new piece for this show, and was able to introduce his work to a new audience.