Greenly Art Space Director and Curator Kimberly Hocking has spent the last 14 years making the Signal Hill nonprofit gallery a hub for both local and international artists.
Hocking has often traveled across the globe to meet with her featured artists in order to put together a meticulously planned show. However, in Greenly Art Space’s upcoming exhibition “Hope and Bone: An Apothecary of Small Acts,” she needed to explore inward.
The show’s opening this Saturday will mark the first time Hocking has used the space to host a solo exhibition of her own work, spanning 37 years of artistic and personal growth.
A photograph Hocking took of her younger brother who has since passed away, marks the beginning of her artistic journey as the first time she experimented with film photography at 17 years old. An ongoing year-long project capturing her current path of transformation shows two photos of Hocking taken daily—one at the beginning of the day and one at the end—which will be added throughout the show’s duration.
Two pictures of Kimberly Hocking on a ferry in Canada, one taken in the morning and one in the evening as part of her “Warrior” project. The project consists of two photos taken daily, and will continue through the duration of Hocking’s exhibition “Hope and Bone: An Apothecary of Small Acts.” (Courtesy of Kimberly Hocking)
“I feel like I’m at this transition time in my life,” Hocking said. “It just really felt it was time to have an exhibition of my own work … I feel like I had a number of things that I really wanted to say and talk about through my work and a lot of work that I wanted to share in a larger fashion and I really wanted to push myself as an artist.”
The Greenly Art Space exhibition will also include an interactive piece viewers can walk into, inspired by her brother’s life and representing beauty persisting through grief, as well as over a dozen other works from throughout Hocking’s artist residencies, encapsulating a lifetime of growth from the 54-year-old artist.
A large part of Hocking’s transition—and exhibition—is her performance piece on becoming a warrior. Hocking shaved her head last year and has captured two photographs of herself everyday since, and will end the show with over 700 images of her process.
“The act of shaving my head and kind of becoming a warrior I’ve done twice in my life, and that’s been another way to connect with [my brother], to do something I feel is brave and takes a lot of courage and was also a way to bring me closer to him even though it’s been so many years,” Hocking said.
Viewers will be able to read the poetic “Warrior’s Prayer” that Hocking wrote about this time in her life. The prayer will connect to different parts of the show, as residents walk from room-to-room they’ll see the themes in the prayer embodied through sculptures, photographs and installations spread throughout Greenly Art Space.
Hocking said creating a cohesive, life-spanning show was one of the biggest challenges, but it’s now an element that she is most excited for people to experience. From the darker, monochromatic parts of the show diving into grief, death and the beauty in that, to the more colorful and reflective parts of the exhibition exploring transformation and life.
“I think there really is a consideration of moving through the space and I wanted to give this sense of being on a journey with me, with my process as an artist, and seeing different parts of the journey like my warrior’s process and the way that I’ve changed,” Hocking said.
The act of putting together her solo exhibition was yet another transformation. On top of the technical aspects like figuring out where and how to display pieces, Hocking said she gained a new level of appreciation for her art and perspective on life.
While she usually spends months with her guest artists poring through their work and learning about their lives to better inform the show, Hocking had to do the same to herself, resulting in what she called a “shift and awakening.”
“There are things that have come out to me during this and it’s the way I see beauty in so many things, like looking at death and grief,” Hocking said. “I think it’s a place people don’t want to go, but because of my brother and how much he means to me, it’s truly a reflection of my soul. I feel like there’s this magical place I’ve always known is in me, and seeing it come together is a confirmation.”
“Hope and Bone: An Apothecary of Small Acts” will open to the public with a reception on July 27 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Greenly Art Space at 2698 Junipero Ave. #113. The reception will include drinks and refreshments.
Residents who wish to see the exhibition can do so by calling (562) 533-4020 to make an appointment through mid-October.
