Curating and Project Direction

Philadelphia artist Aimee Koran works across mediums and explores how images, issues, and objects intimately associated with motherhood reveal how care is valued in social, political and economic terms. By manipulating color, material and scale, she transforms personal possessions synonymous with pregnancy, infancy, and parenting - some hand-made, some handed down, some mass produced - from refuse into relics. Through her prints and sculptures, Koran retools the remnants of maternal labor to question ways in which the work of women is often overlooked and under-appreciated. 

Koran’s solo exhibition at Helix Gallery features works that reflect multiple ongoing series by the artist. From her series “Tested,” Koran's floor-to-ceiling wallpaper is composed of thousands of pregnancy test strips to suggest a weaving or embroidery in red, white and blue. Two series, “Chromed” and “Insiders,” examine the objects of children's play. Stereotypically gendered plastic toys, such as dollhouses and dump trucks, are chrome-plated and evoke the parental tradition of bronzing baby shoes to preserve memories of a child’s early years. With “Insiders,” Koran deconstructs her children’s once-beloved companions, abandoned in place of newer toys. By inverting the structure of the stuffed animals, she adds vulnerability and singularity to familiar mass-produced objects. 

Koran's “Milkscapes” prints blur the boundaries between personal and social space, expanding a photograph of spilled breast milk into a sublime landscape. Inspired by an accidental spill after laborious pumping, the series explores how the female body is repeatedly called upon to perform and produce. Visitors are invited to take away an invisible labor tote celebrating Mothers in the Labor Force (MILF), designed by Koran to highlight caregiving and creative labor as collective work. 

Aimee Koran is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Philadelphia. She holds an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania and a BFA in Fine Arts with a minor in Textile Design from Moore College of Art & Design. Koran explores the topic of motherhood, focusing on the continuously shifting and complex binaries that shape the role. Her work has been shown around the globe in venues such as the Richard Saulton Gallery, London, UK; Mütter Museum, Philadelphia, PA; The Arlington Art Center, Arlington, VA; and completed residencies at The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA; The Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT; The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY and Project for Empty Space, Newark, NJ. Her solo and group exhibitions have been featured in publications including The New York Times, Vogue, Whitewall, Artslant, Artnet News and A Woman's Thing. Koran's work was recently acquired for addition to the permanent contemporary collection at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.