Please join The University of Dayton Department of Art and Design Thursday September 11th 5:00 - 7:00pm for the reception of Out of Context: Try Not To Take it Personal, a solo exhibition by Misty Thomas-Trout at Roger Glass Center for the Arts Gallery. 

From the Artist:

This typographic exhibition is an exploration in fragments. A manifesto in bits and pieces. A visualization of cognitive dissonance overloaded by fractured messages that create meanings influenced by chance operation. A space where graphic design transcends function and becomes a vessel for vulnerability.

Externalism: A collection of overheard language—snippets from private whispers and public outbursts—is headlined and layered over collaged fragments of 19th-century newspapers. These posters become visual palimpsests, where the past and present collide, and perception is shaped by noise, bias, and the instability of memory. Language here is dislocated, repurposed, and recontextualized—echoing the way truth fragments in the echo chamber of culture. The body navigates this overwhelming field of print and voice, its presence altering the space as much as the space alters thought and where meaning is always on the verge of distortion.

Internalism: An enclosure formed by scrolls of fabric, each one unfurling into a wall. Layered across their surfaces are sacred texts drawn from my past: love letters exchanged in my former marriage, and handwritten letters from my brother during his time in prison. These fragments of memory—collapsed in time—converge into a belief system that shaped my understanding of love. This room is a constructed architecture of emotion. Listen. Can you hear what he is saying?

To step inside is to enter a heart and mind made visible—yours and mine. Try not to take it personal.

HEALING:
This word was written from the ashes of my marital love letters.

Out of Context: Try Not to Take it Personal will run from August 25th- September 21st with regular hours Monday-Friday 2-7pm and weekend hours during events at RGCA.