Chloe J. Gormley
Chloe J. Gormley is a visual artist and arts educator whose work is characterized by wit, color, and human relationship to spaces. With a background in community advocacy, human connection has always been a key point of interest in her work and how she navigates concepts. These works of art often depict objects or roles in a surreal form, where Chloe hopes to create space for interpretation on transformative forms.
Being born and raised in Bulacan, Philippines, Chloe’s artistic voice is influenced by social realist artists, art as spiritual practice, Manila’s urban landscape, Filipino rock and folk music, and strong matriarchs of both her maternal and paternal grandmothers’ homes, respectively, in Michigan, USA, and in Pampanga, Philippines. Through this artistic voice, Chloe hopes to foster empathy when looking at human connection and history.
Chloe is currently based in Omaha Nebraska, working as a Holland Community Opera Fellow with Opera Omaha. This role is providing her opportunities to grow her artistic career and learn from populations within her new community that are often at a disadvantage in arts education. When not working on her craft, she is probably listening to a documentary, playing the ukulele, or watching reality TV.
“Project Place”
“Project Place” is a body of work that explores the idea of ‘belonging’. This work in progress hopes to make sense of human relationship with space , community or environment. For the first part of this work, Chloe is observing ‘personal belonging’. Parallel to Chloe’s move from the Philippines to the United States, she is making sense of how and in what ways do we feel connected and grounded in uncertain times.
Chloe is asking for community input from far and wide to collect personal stories, and perspectives. These voices would provide greater insight into these thoughts. These ideas are filtered through Chloe’s artistic voice.
Prompts in the short list of questions are often asking for stories that are personal. With that, all contributions to this project will remain anonymous and will be used as inspiration or as a lens in navigating the process.
Guiding Principles
These principles are the foundation to Chloe’s artistic process and how her work is meant to engage with communities.
Kapwa (KAh-pwa)is a Tagalog word embedded in Filipino culture. While there is no direct translation, it can mean “fellow”, “the value of relation”, or “being able to relate”. It is more than empathy, it is this recognition of how we are all connected. With this, Chloe’s work attempts to create a shared identity among audience members or an understanding of the ‘self’ within others.
Kapwa
In exploring human connection through her art, narratives and stories guide Chloe’s art-making process. These voices provide Chloe the opportunity to consider how an audience could interpret the work. These ‘voices’ are not always the artist’s own. She hopes for stories to be interpreted by adjusting perspectives, adding elements, or setting a tone. The process is rooted in building a narrative or world for audience-members to travel through and interpret on their own. The art isn’t complete without the voices of those we can learn from, this involves the voices that inspired the narrative and the voices of those who respond to it.
World-Building
