Opening Reception: Friday, June 13, 5-8pm
Evan Feldman
Director
efeldman@gpgallery.com
Gerald Peters Contemporary is pleased to present its first exhibition of the 2025 summer season, Material Girl: Pop Culture and the Female Gaze. Bringing together six female artists working across media, the exhibition will highlight the connections between the artists’ personal histories and social, political, and cultural realities of today.
Anchored in Pop Art, the exhibition explores how these artists use the genre’s vocabulary of familiar imagery, bold colors, and ready-made objects to examine socio-political concerns. Probing gender, sexuality, materialism, and commodification, these works offer profound personal introspection and keen societal awareness.
Hattie Lee Mendoza (b. 1990) is a multi-disciplinary artist who grew up in Fowler, Kansas, and now lives in Peoria, Illinois. She has an MFA from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and a BA in graphic design from Tabor College, Hillsboro, KS.
Influenced by her Great Grandmother and namesake’s Cherokee heritage and stories, Mendoza revives and continues that legacy within her family after generational loss of cultural connection.
A member of the Cherokee Nation, my process is a personal expression of the Native American Diaspora. I utilize found or gifted fibers and objects while incorporating Cherokee basketry, pottery, or beadwork patterns. I myself am a collage of cultures and react by collaging materials from my ancestors, contemporary community, and personal life experiences.
