You remember the 1965 Who song, “The Kids are Alright.” It really had nothing to do with family life, but nevertheless provides a catchy title for the John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s new photography show about families, the kids are all right. Here, however, the kids aren’t really. Contemporary domesticity, as prodded by more than 35 national artists, ricochets from open arms to impenetrable pain. New Yorker Angela Strassheim’s powerful work offers brightly staged scenes, such as a father combing his son’s hair and a family praying at the dinner table, but each image wallops us with a sad truth about how our beliefs, hopes and dreams become twisted in power relationships. There’s also a beautifully menacing presence in California artist Tierney Gearon’s body of work about her mother. These images cross the boundaries into the darker truths of intimacy and our bodies. Bring the kids. It might stimulate conversation.
the kids are all right (Sept. 30-Jan. 20, 2013). John Michael Kohler Arts Center. 608 New York Ave., Sheboygan, 920-458-6144, jmkac.org.
