Every month, Third Degree welcomes a new St. Louis area artist to showcase their work in our East Gallery as a part of our Third Friday open house. In recognition of both Black History Month (February) and Women’s History Month (March), Third Degree is proud to welcome Triggy’s show Smile. Read more about this beautiful body of work below.
“Centered around the societal command for women to always have a smile on their face, Smile is a series created to spark a conversation that will heal the community.
“Featuring portraits of women, the context of the series is a gateway to conversations regarding topics that continue to divide us. By choosing images that do not reflect smiles, it asks you to look past the physical and get to know more about each subject; as we should in our everyday encounters.
“Society has put a stigma on women that we must be in character at all times. A smile is recommended regularly to adorn our face. If we are not smiling, we are harassed or accused of every type of negative stereotype. We must have a smile on our face at all times despite anything we may be dealing with. Making a smile a requirement for women in society to be accepted is an insult.
“To be commanded to smile, when we offer so much more, is the message I want to convey with this body of work. Each of these women have stood in their truth for what they believe and represent power, success as well as beauty.”
~Triggy
About the Artist:
Art heals.
Saint Louis native Triggy knows this first hand. Picking up a paint brush to deal with everyday stresses, she retired from corporate America based on the satisfaction of creating. Starting a non profit organization geared towards using art as a mechanism of healing for her hometown that suffers from many social wounds, she wanted to share her experiences on how art helped her and opened her eyes to a new purpose. A lover of all concepts of art, she’s inspired by life. Triggy specializes in life size pop art portraits using the stippling technique. Stippling forces the eye to enjoy the overall photo which is how she engages with her audience.
Smile will be on display until March 14.
