Artist Lecture: Lilly McElroy

Lilly McElroy is a photographer and spoke tonight in Callicot Auditorium at Memphis College of Art. Her work tries to form connections between people or connections with places. McElroy's first work was titled "Hugs." This video showed her walking up to unknown people and trying to hug them, using the camera to capture their reactions. After the piece was finished she found that hugging someone can have two meanings. The first being an intimate connection with another person, and the other being a form of attack or confrontation. Her second work she showed was titled "The Square"  put the artist on a busy sidewalk and she tried to guard her space from people walking into her square area. Most of the people that interacted with her were playful instead of being disrespectful or rude. I believe her main piece was "I Throw Myself At Men" which are a series of photographs of the artist literally throwing herself at men in bars. She had fourteen good shots out of the experience and mentioned she usually wore a skirt to add vulnerability. She also presented "Pushing Cowboys", "Show Me That You Love Me", "Come Watch the Sunset with Me", and "2009 was a Rough Year."