I Resist This from March 4 to April 6, 2024 at The Stamp Gallery | University of Maryland, College Park | Written by Oliver Foley

If you have visited the University of Maryland any time in the past decade, you are likely familiar with the ubiquity of construction zones across campus. It is a regular occurrence to encounter the fenced-off skeletons of new buildings, neon orange barriers around purple line construction, and cones surrounding freshly-poured sidewalks of College Park. Areas undergoing transition are often observable by passersby, but rarely allow up-close engagement for those outside of a specialized group. A few times per semester, during changeover between exhibits, Stamp Gallery briefly becomes one of these mutative spaces, only open to those who are involved in its transformation. However, the current exhibition on display, I Resist This, defies the typical conventions of construction sites by sharing the space’s metamorphosis with a public audience.

I Resist This is a residency exhibition with artist Charlotte Richardson-Deppe, who also teaches art at UMD. Richardson-Deppe’s residency extends the installation process over the entire length of the exhibition, ultimately culminating in a live performance on April 6. As March progressed, the intricacy of the space slowly but surely grew. At first, the gallery was sparsely filled; a garland of conjoined shirts encircled a set of two pants joined at the hip with a tube of fabric. Another chain of arm-linked shirts funnel the visitor into Richardson-Deppe’s workspace at the heart of the exhibition. Guarding the artist’s sewing machines from behind, two large snake-like coils of stuffed fabric tube occupied the back of the gallery.  

As the exhibit progressed, the soft, amorphous creatures of cloth multiplied. Pillowy, yet organic tubular roots grew gradually across the gallery floor and invitingly plush mountains of multicolored cushions came forth from Richardson-Deppe’s sewing machines. Interpretive drawings by Richardson-Deppe’s students fill in the blank spaces of the wall, incorporating external perspectives into the exhibition’s body. Now, as it reaches its final stages before the performance, the exhibition has not only grown in scale, but cultivated a “lived-in” atmosphere. As Richardson-Deppe has acclimated to her new gallery-studio, the arrangement and structuring of her workspace reveals the routines and spatial wisdoms which accompany familiarity. 

From my perspective as a docent, one of the most interesting components of an exhibition-in-flux is the ways in which visitors interact with the space. Some passersby see the pieces-in-progress and instinctually lurk sheepishly around the windows, assuming that a glance is all they are allowed of the gallery. Some of these guests appear to be conditioned to keep out, trained by UMD’s many construction zones. When they notice the sign which reads “OPEN,” the visitors enter with a heightened curiosity. It feels very artistically intimate to see someone’s worktable; the tables of supplies and sewing machines are often the first place guests will explore. “Is this table part of the show?” people often ask, to which I invariably reply, “yes.” The viewer-accessible process of installation is itself a performance.  By giving viewers an exploratory privilege not often afforded to the public,  I Resist This rewards repeat visitorship through its continuous change.  

This evolution reaches its conclusion in the space’s final state with Richardson-Deppe’s live performance on April 6 at 7PM.