Frontispieces

Frontispieces is a solo performance featuring eight of Rawls’ life-size paintings of dogs. Some depict actual German shepherds, while some hold the shepherd silhouette but are covered in abstract markings.

These objects get pushed around in a series of odd tricks, and with them, Rawls questions about the legacy of Jim Crow in his lifetime and the violent clashes of human and animal bodies in mid-century America. Approaching the work with a spirit of playful clumsiness, Rawls made dances with the dogs, toying with animal behavior and abstract nonsense in an attempt to juggle a painful history from new angles.