Emilie Louise Gossiaux: Fingers and Tongue (2023). Oil paint and cold wax medium on ceramic. 43 cm x 14 cm x 11 cm . Courtesy of the artist
Have you ever had someone depend entirely on you? Or have you ever depended entirely on someone else? Kinship, an exhibition at Kunsthall Trondheim, joyfully captures these deep connections through the story of an artist and a dog. Featuring drawings, painted sculptures, and a newly commissioned installation of one hundred painted ceramic objects spanning two gallery floors, Kinship invites reflections on your own interdependence with others while embracing your animal self.
Artist Emilie Louise Gossiaux first met London, a blonde English Labrador Retriever, the day after her 24th birthday. London entered Emilie's life three years after a traffic accident caused Emilie's blindness. For over a decade since then, London has been not only Emilie's guide dog but also a close companion and muse.
In Kinship, visitors follow a trail of multicolored ceramic sculptures of various sizes, inspired by the design of "Kong" chew toys—snowman-like rubber structures made of stacked spheres and often used to hold doggy treats. Along this trail, a survey of the artist's work is presented through a series of vignette-like displays. From one to the next, sculptures and drawings chart the interplay of Emilie and London’s lives and bodily forms to celebrate their shared experiences. Together, they form a unified whole—a super-being that transcends hierarchical boundaries.
Beyond honoring these bonds, Kinship challenges the distinctions between non-disabled and disabled individuals, as well as between humans and animals, by highlighting our mutual interdependence and co-evolution. These themes respond to Emilie’s personal experiences of dehumanization and discrimination while traveling with London. Instead, Kinship opens new perspectives that foster greater empathy and respect for both animals and "Crip" individuals.* It encourages a rethinking of how we engage with other species and highlights the need for inclusivity and recognition of diverse forms of life.
To meet these calls, Emilie infuses her work with a profound sense of disability pride and the morality of animal rights.† She addresses the intersection of disability activism with animal welfare, emphasizing that the treatment of nonhuman beings often reflects broader societal attitudes toward disability. The sensory quality of the artist's pieces, crafted through memory and touch, encourages viewers to experience art in an unconventional way, reflecting the tactile connection the artist has with London. Every drawing and sculpted form becomes a celebration of their shared journey, making Emilie’s art a testament to the beauty of connection and to the unspoken, species-transcendent language of love and trust.
In a first for Kunsthall Trondheim, the gallery will offer both audio description tours and a braille guide for this exhibition, which is the artist’s first European solo-show.
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*"Crip," a slang term for "cripple," is an affirmative term used in the disability community to express pride in diverse identities and to resist ableism and oppression in the struggle for disability rights and equity.
†"Disability pride" involves embracing, celebrating, and finding dignity in one's whole self, including any disabilities.
BIO:
Emilie Louise Gossiaux (b. 1989, New Orleans, USA) is an artist whose work explores memory, social perception, and touch, often incorporating themes related to her visual impairment and her relationship with her companion, a blonde English Labrador Retriever named London. Through sculpture, drawing, and installation, she examines how we understand and interact with the world, challenging traditional notions of accessibility and sensory engagement in art.
Gossiaux holds a BFA from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and an MFA from the Yale School of Art. She recently presented her first solo museum exhibition, Other-Worlding, at the Queens Museum in New York City and has participated in landmark group exhibitions such as Crip Time at the Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt and Greater New York at MoMA PS1. Gossiaux has received several awards, including a Joan Mitchell Fellowship, Cooper Union's Ida Applebroog Grant, the Kennedy Center’s VSA Prize for Excellence, and a Jerome Foundation Fellowship. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The Paris Review, Art in America, and ArtReview, among others. The artist lives and works in New York City.
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The exhibition is supported by Arts and Culture Norway, The Fritt Ord Foundation and SpareBank 1 SMN Samfunnsutbytte.
Kinship is curated by Adam Kleinman, with Katrine Elise Agpalza Pedersen, and Joe Rowley.
Kunsthall Trondheim would like to thank:
London and Kirby Kersels; Christoph Platz-Gallus and Carlota Gomez at Kunstverein Hannover; Unge Funksjonshemmede and Oda Oftung; Trondheim RAMM; Sarah Cho and Hayley Blackstone (Queens Museum) and Lukas Flygare (Museum MMK Für Moderne Kunst) – and the wonderful human and artist Emilie, working with you has made us grow.
The artist would like to thank:
The two loves of her life, her partner, caregiver, and soul mate, Kirby, and her animal companion, London — your love will always inspire me. Special thanks to Sculpture Space in NYC, Christoph Platz-Gallus and Carlota Gomez from Kunstverein Hannover, and the team at Kunsthall Trondheim, Katrine, Kaja, Joe, and Adam!