The ToTLuck is a series of 3 one-night only photographic installations, which will take place around the Kansas City metropolitan area in and on a 1960 Airstream trailer – the Trailer of Truth, a.k.a. ToT. These installations, directed by Emily Sloan, will be held in accessible public areas such as a parking lot or a park.
The ToT is a mobile, accessible, interchangeable, and unconventional performance & art space. It is intended to explore the repressed realities of truth, perception, and reaction in the public domain. The ToT is a literal and figurative vehicle that facilitates an on-going series of multi-disciplinary public art engagements intended to surprise and provoke. With the goal of bringing art installations to non-traditional community spaces, the ToT is designed to pop-up and create intimate and personal art experiences for an underserved, non-gallery-going social demographic.
Each gathering/installation will build on the previous one and experimentally push photographic interpretation into performance. Participants will also be encouraged to bring snacks to share, “potluck” style, increasing the invitation for social exchange. The first installation of the ToTLuck will consist of images submitted by area photographers that will be projected onto the Trailer of Truth, accompanied by live music. The second installation adds a dance component to the imagery, and the series culminates with a combination of image projection, music, dance and spoken word. Goals for the project include: creating conversation within and between the photography community and the general public; pushing the boundaries of “the photographic image”; and exhibiting work outside the gallery and museum, taking art into the streets and bringing it directly to the public.
Emily Evans Sloan is a multidisciplinary artist, born in Springfield, Missouri. She received a BFA in photography at Missouri State University and an MFA in photography at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Emily lives in Kansas City, Missouri with her husband and their 6 children.
The overarching theme to Emily’s work is about discovering and documenting the surreal yet glorious moments of everyday life that are often overlooked, discarded or hidden. She loves to capture emotions, not necessarily big and obvious emotions, but the subtle, the tiny, and the layers within us. She honors the unusual moments that reveal authentic emotions. The Trailer of Truth project is specifically designed to advance these themes through the exploration of the repressed realities of truth, perception, and reaction.
Emily is a recent Artist Inc Fellow (May 2015) and winner of the Artist Inc Advance “Audience Favorite Grant” for her project, “the Trailer of Truth” (December 2015.)
Since acquiring a 1960 Airstream trailer in the summer of 2013 for the purpose of making a mobile art space, Emily has collaborated with numerous artists in Kansas City on multimedia and pop-up projects, and has participated in several regional group photography shows.
Emily is extremely excited to connect with photographers, trading thoughts and inspiration with “her people,” and is passionate about curating the upcoming installations, known as The TotLuck