Hilary Harkness (b. 1971, Detroit, MI) meticulously renders reimagined histories that comment on sociocultural forces with a distinctly contemporary sensibility. For the Kabinett program, P·P·O·W will present an erotic fantasy centered on the making of mid-19th century American mythology inspired by Winslow Homer’s "Prisoners from the Front," 1866. Harkness’s interpretation of this iconic work takes place over in a trio of narrative scenes, including an interracial romance between Union General Francis Channing Barlow and Arabella Freeman, a Virginia landowner. Contextualized by an ongoing series of intimate landscape paintings that Harkness has steadily executed since 2016, these paintings provide different accounts of the legacy of slavery and the Great Migration, enriching the complex morality of both American history and the history of American Art. Harkness holds a BA from University of California, Berkeley and an MFA from Yale University. She has exhibited worldwide, including Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain; American Academy of Arts and Letters, and Deste Foundation, Athens, Greece. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art. From 2003 to 2019, she was represented by Mary Boone Gallery. In 2014, she co-curated "Roy Lichtenstein: Nudes and Interiors" at FLAG Art Foundation. In 2017, she received the Henry Clews Award and attended the inaugural Master Residency Program at the Château de La Napoule in France.
