Bonnie Kamhi “Devoured in Nature”

The “HerStory” 2019 continues a decades-long dedication by Renée Phillips in creating and presenting an annual exhibition devoted to art by women on the Manhattan Arts International website. This call was open to all women artists around the world and all themes, subjects, styles and mediums were welcome. The show ran run through September 20, 2019. (I give my sincere apologies to the artist and to Renée for the lateness in my write-up, I was sidelined for a while due to personal issues and my writing got put on the back burner for some time).

I was so pleased to be asked to be a special recognition art award panelist again for “HerStory” 2019 that was juried by Renée Phillips, Director of Manhattan Arts International. She is an amazing mentor and career advisor for art professionals and it is a privilege to work with her in support of women in the arts. Renée stated “We will continue to present annual “HerStory” exhibitions until there is a fair and equal balance of women artists represented by art museums, galleries, art book publishers, major private and public collections, auction houses, and the media.” I could not agree more—and I will continue my focus on exhibition opportunities for women artists, particularly on feminist themes until we see equality not only in the art world but in society also.

For this exhibition I chose the work of Bonnie Kamhi. She is a sculptor, photographer and natural story-teller who expresses contemporary and timeless messages about women. My usual focus is activist/feminist art and while Bonnie’s work does not fall within this genre, to spoke to me of the strength and resilience of women.

Bonnie’s work is visually arresting—it stopped me in my tracks to delve in and explore further. The work is gorgeous and lush, but now knowing her process I am even more intrigued and mesmerized. She is truly unique in her practice. The work has so many layers and nuances and while the exhibition had many fabulous pieces, I kept coming back to Bonnie’s work over and over. It sparked something in my mind and heart that could not be ignored.

A master of form, Bonnie first creates beautiful sculptures, with porcelain clay, of women with exquisite details. How she can capture such realistic form in pieces quite small is a mystery to me. As a feminist, I appreciate that the female form is not through the lens of the male gaze of objectified female—the arched back, unnatural pose with jutting buttocks or hips, waiting passively for male attention. Her figures are strong, self-assured and comfortable in their own al-natural skin, in a meditative state.

She then creates a still life with flowers to place her figures. The figure appears as the original Eve, before man cast and blamed her for sin and subjugated to patriarchy and deemed inferior and weak. The figure is in paradise, reveling in her solitude.

Lastly Bonnie photographs the still life and prints the image as her final art. The lighting and tonality in her prints is superb. My favorite of her works is “Devoured in Nature”, Archival print on Entrada Rag Natural paper, 23 x 29 inches, 2017.

From Bonnie’s statement: “I tell stories through a three-part process that involves first creating sculptures, then photographing and transforming them into digital images.  The focus of my work involves marrying various aspects of the female form with the grace, beauty and lushness of leaves, flowers, and nature.  In this way, I am able to evoke and express emotions within me that I need to share. The special hands-on relationship I have with physically forming each sculpture gives me the freedom to materialize in three dimensions whatever I visualize in my mind.  The fact that I actually touch and feel the softness and flow evolve as I manipulate the clay. It allows me to nuance my work with an intimacy and closeness that I cannot achieve in any other way.”

Bonnie’s artwork is in numerous private collections which include many commissions. All of her work is printed on archival paper “Entrada Rag Natural.”  High quality archival inks are used in the workmanship of the production. The buyer of her art receives a signed Certificate of Authenticity. More of her work can be viewed here: https://bonniekamhi.com/

The hand that rocks the cradle also rocks the world. Women are coming together in empowerment and to create positive change. Women build things, they are the glue for society in creating and maintaining families and building the foundations for their children and their future children to be successful. Women are also coming together to address issues to fight for our shared values and humanity and demand what we need from those in power. Bonnie’s work celebrates women’s beauty and strength.

I’m very empowered by the number of high-quality exhibitions being put together to promote women in the arts. 2020 is going to be a banner year, with exhibitions, the celebration of the 100^th year of women voting in the US and hopefully with many more women being elected into politics too!