Jack Barrett is pleased to present New Power Feeling, an exhibition of photographic works by Daniel Terna. The show consists of a large-scale photographic installation and photo prints encased in acrylic frames.

Much of Daniel Terna's artistic practice has focused on documenting his domestic surroundings, with particular attention given to his father, a Holocaust survivor and artist. Fred Terna began painting after the Second World War as a way to process and bear witness to his experience surviving three years in Nazi concentration camps. As a second generation survivor, Daniel Terna now bears witness to his father’s life and legacy. 

In the two large-scale triptychs of the exhibition, Stretches on the couch, late December and Dad & George at the house, with Exerball, Terna captures his soon to be 99-year old father undergoing physical therapy at home. The act of physical therapy as a means to protect and preserve the body is echoed in the presentation of the images. Printed on freestanding industrial sneeze guards, barriers that became ubiquitous during the pandemic, the life-sized shields prompt us as viewers to confront the means and extent to which we go to protect our bodies and separate ourselves from others. 

In the wall-based work Isaac & Abraham, one of Fred’s paintings can be seen in sharp focus behind a clenched hand wielding an exercise band. Titled Second Testing of the Name (1973), the painting depicts the artist’s adaptation of the Old Testament scene known as the Akedah, in which God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, as proof of his faith. 

Both the imagery and narrative of the Akedah are mirrored in formal and conceptual elements of the exhibition. The hand of the physical therapist reaching toward Fred’s is reflective of the angel blocking Abraham from wielding the knife. Or Isaac, who is portrayed catching Abraham’s head as he appears to faint, exemplifies a son attempting to protect his father in a moment of struggle. 

A series of four smaller photo prints hung in acrylic frames accompany the installation. Featuring seemingly enigmatic subjects–a small dog, dramatically lit sand, a medical walker, and the profile of a woman–each image represents a theme or supporting character in the narrative of Fred’s physical health and vitality. 

The title of the exhibition, New Power Feeling, draws inspiration from “Neue Kraft Fühlend,” a directive in the third movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet No.15 in A minor, Opus 132 (1825), which translates to ‘Feeling New Strength.’ It is the crescendo at the end of the movement. The strength and power that come from enduring struggle. 

On Thursday, October 6th, the Pelia String Quartet will perform Beethoven's String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Opus 132 in the gallery space, among the works in the exhibition.