BORDERS
at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, Tennessee  

The exhibition by MMFA represented sculptor Steinunn Thórarinsdóttir opened on August 29, 2021 has now been extended due to popular demand.

The work of Steinunn Thórarinsdóttir returned to the Dixon last fall with more than twenty sculptures from her Borders series. The Dixon first presented the artist’s Horizons series in their gardens in 2009 to great success. Now, Thorarinsdottir’s remarkable figural works animate the Dixon’s property again through Borders. The sculptures are presented in pairs, one cast-iron and one aluminum, either standing or seated and often placed as if they are in a silent conversation. Thorarinsdottir’s figures are at once familiar and otherworldly, and their quiet aura invites viewers to contemplate the ways in which all humans are connected, despite our outward differences.

Working as a sculptor for 45 years, Thórarinsdóttir has exhibited her work in museums, galleries, and public spaces around the world. Thórarinsdóttir utilizes figurative sculpture to explore the human condition, creating androgynous and deliberately anonymous human figures to examine the ways in which humans relate to the environment and to one another. “BORDERS” debuted at the Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City in 2011 and has since appeared in Seattle, Dallas, Chicago, and Baton Rouge. The Dixon is the 10th venue. Since the debut of the show in 2011 the idea of the border has become increasingly compelling and complex both politically and socially.

Works by Thorarinsdottir are currently on view in our gallery and sculpture garden. Contact us via telephone or email for information on works by Thorarinsdottir.