Rowan University Art Gallery & Museum to Feature Latest Work from Artist, vanessa german

'Breathe from the Diaphragm: our eyes are in our lungs' is the title of artist vanessa german’s latest work. Please don’t contact my editor, you’ve read that correctly, the artist styles her name in all lowercase. I’ve recently had the pleasure of interviewing the sculptor about the inspiration behind her life’s work and to hear her speak is an art all its own. She recounts her process with grace and an almost ethereal quality. She possesses the spiritual inclination to which I aspire.

“We are always in the process of spiritual healing. Being a creative person and experiencing transformation is spiritually powerful because it is quite literally proof in the palm of your hands that you are a change-agent. That you can make something invisible, visible. You can pool, conjure, and illuminate the invisible to the physical world. This is an affirmation of the power that we have as human beings. All the work in this exhibition and all the work that I make, I make knowing that there’s so much power in creativity. It’s fundamentally how we know ourselves alive,” explains german.

Much of her work pulls inspiration from African diaspora traditions, with her biography reading, “german’s sculptures are as much defined by their tangible elements as their transcendental properties, a combination which the artist describes as the ingredients of her work. Since the early 2010s, she has assembled ritualistic structures known as power figures using glass, beads, gemstones, nails, wood, and other objects. Whether mineral crystals originating in the earth millennia ago, or cobalt blue bottles resembling those used in bottle tree traditions for generations, every object chosen by german channels frequencies that span its entire existence. Channeling precolonial and African diasporic traditions, her figures allude to the Kongo nkisi nkondi, each charged by the protective and restorative spirits that complement their physical materials. Guided by her own creativity, imagination and curiosity, german follows her intuition about the capacity for objects to tell stories, creating sculptures that resonate deeply with those who encounter them.”

german’s connection to the spiritual world is the lifeblood of her craft. “Ideas are alive and they come from anywhere and everywhere. One of my jobs is to make connections between materials and ideas, and synthesize it in the times that we’re living in, like my history, memory, and soul. That process is always happening. There’s a multidimensional process of synthesizing ideas and materials through life, and that means that every idea is connected to the idea that came before it, to the day before it.” 

The exhibition’s description reads “[the exhibition] offers respite from the volatility and injustice of today’s world with work that focuses on selflessness, love, and the alignment of heart and mind. Pulling from precolonial and African diasporic traditions, particularly those of her ancestral Kongolese lineage in Central Africa, german’s anthropomorphic sculptures employ mineral crystals, beads, glass, and many found objects that allude to the symbolism of Nkisi N’kondi, or Power Figures, which are believed to be spiritually charged figures used for healing, protection, and justice. The blue accents in the exhibition complement the healing energies of the work with its chromatic link to water.

The Rowan University Art Gallery & Museum’s mission is “to engender curiosity and a passion for contemporary art, enrich the quality of life for area residents, create a welcoming and inclusive cultural destination at Rowan University, and function as a resource for contemporary art throughout the region.” Aligned with a state university, the gallery seeks to cultivate a learning environment for its students as well as surrounding residents and the general public. It is this educational element that brings german an additional sense of joy with this particular exhibition.

Her hope for the students is that they understand, through the process of experiencing not only her work but modern work [in comparison to the historical works that they study], that they needn’t follow in the footsteps of anyone else. What they will bring to their work already lives inside of them. The conversations that are born from young curiosity add a layer of vulnerability to the work. “There’s anxiety about what’s possible [in thinking of their futures] and you can have vulnerable conversations with artists who are becoming themselves. That is precious,” affirms german.

“Life is a cycle of creation. Everything I create is in connection to the power that we have, as human beings, to be transformative and to be luminous. Everything in this exhibition is aligned in that cycle. It is grounded in the knowing that we are transformative beings.” A message that should resonate with students and gallery patrons alike.

Curated by Mary Salvante in collaboration with Kasmin Gallery and the artist, the exhibition will run through November 1, 2025, and is open to the general public.