Levi Westerveld Explores Identity Through Faces

The conference room of Robert A. Jones ’59 House now hosts an exhibit by student Levi Westerveld ’15.5. Entitled “New Spaces, Same Identities”, the series of 12 portraits reveals the often-unseen faces of migrant workers in China. Having previously exhibited portrait series of the Quw’ustun native people of Vancouver Island, Canada, and of traditional farmers of the Valley of the Dordogne in France, this recent series continues and expands a process and aesthetic of sensitive humanity and tenderness.

Ross Commons Co-Head and Professor of Religion Maria Hatjigeorgiou has followed Westerveld’s work since his first exhibition at the M Gallery in Fall 2012.

“I sense that Levi is on track to articulate a very personal visual medium:  through his deep empathetic listening, the stories of his subjects, and revealing their ontological defiance against the dehumanization of capitalist development, which seeks to destroy the human soul,” Hatjigeorgiou said. “Levi manages to capture something archaic, almost primordial in the gazes of his subjects, and his art becomes the vehicle that conveys it to us, in a way that almost shocks us, because it evokes the mystery of human existence. This aspect of humanity can never be captured by the culture of the endless photographic narcissism of our ‘selfies’; it can only be accomplished by art. In fact, this is the power of true art: by commenting on the human experience, it reminds us of what is true and enduring.”

A sincere respect for people quickly became evident as he reflected on how he approaches each person.

“All the people that we see are people I know well and have interviewed several times before starting the project,” Westerveld said. “On one hand because I was doing research with a professor on migrant workers; on the other hand because it takes time to get to the point where they are willing to have their picture taken and where you feel confident that you’re not rushing through the process. You need to feel honesty and respect for the person. If you’re just ‘using’ them, it doesn’t feel comfortable when you’re drawing them. You certainly need to have a connection with the people and that takes conversation and time. It’s very pleasurable to get to know all the people. Each person has a very particular story.  I can look at all the drawings and have a lot of memories and connections that come back.”

Working with charcoal and dry pastel, Westerveld seemingly captures in two dimensions the seasoned reality of his subjects. This exhibit, much like his previous work, focuses on giving a face and a voice to people whose stories and existence often remains unknown. The captivating gaze of the portraits seems to communicate a fourth dimension of time and a fifth dimension of human experience and emotion, beyond the three dimensions of length, width, and height. Many of the portraits shift from a tea-stained negative space to a striking sense of photorealism and character. One might find this shift analogous to the transition and contrast between rural and urban landscapes.

“I was trying to understand how the identity of these people, their perception of their own identity was changing as they move from the rural landscape to the urban landscape, which in China are extremely different spaces,” Westerveld said. “I was going with the idea that the people, as they move between those different spaces, were going to have very different changes and perceptions of their own identity, in the same way that, for me, moving from France to the United States has changed a lot of things about myself.”

Westerveld talked extensively of the relationship between his portraits and his major, Geography. A class on campus led Levi to research Chinese migrant workers before studying abroad in Kunming in Fall 2013. He was able to pursue his research further with a Ph. D. student who focuses on ethnic minorities among Chinese migrant workers.

He pointed out one woman’s portrait, pointing out the form of her safety helmet underneath her hijab. The question of how people’s identities change as they move between different landscapes is central to the exhibition.

“I realized that many migrant workers still perceive themselves as farmers, because there is such a division in Chinese society between the people who come from rural China and urban China,” Westerveld said. “There are spaces in the urban landscape with a real division between people who belong and people who don’t belong. Migrant workers are living in new spaces, but their identity is not changing or adapting to the space. The Chinese city is not adapting to their identify and not accepting them.”

In 2011, the number of migrant workers in China hit 230, and 17 percent of China’s population floats between urban and rural landscapes. These workers are only allowed in urban regions on a temporary, contractual basis. After one contract expires, they have to find another job or return to their rural homes. A global economy’s momentary want for labor seemingly governs migrant workers’ mobility inside their country’s borders, and their legal existence within a city depends entirely on their labor output.

“There is a real focus on their not belonging to the space,” he said. “And so wherever you look, from the cultural, economic or the social perspective, migrant workers are alienated by the city.  There are specific spaces where migrant workers work, sleep and eat together. They don’t really interact with the local people.”

Westerveld described how various linguistic constructions further mark migrant workers as outsiders within urban landscapes.

“I really see the art as a bridge between the people who live in [two very] different places,” Westerveld said. “I think people across the world are getting more and more connected: globalization, the Internet, you buy something that’s made somewhere else in the world. But at the same time people are more disconnected and so this is a way, through the art, to create an opportunity to connect with different people. In the same way it’s about giving a voice to people who might not always have a voice in society. Chinese migrant workers are working daily, every day of the week, long hours, and they do not go to school, they don’t speak English and often times don’t speak Mandarin Chinese, so they don’t really have a way to reach out to other people.”

Certainly, the process of developing these series of portraits seemed to develop and uncover Westerveld’s process and his chosen role to himself.

“It is mainly about the migrant workers and the connection I create between them and the audience, but it is about me too,” Westerveld said. “It’s not a straight line between the migrant workers and the audience; it’s more like a curve and I’m the one curving the line and deciding how people are getting represented here. Even though I try my best to grasp my unconscious and not to think too much when I do the art, it’s very much about me as well. I see myself involved in very different ways. The colors I choose, the expressions I try to choose to put on the face, the lines I’m drawing, the lines I’m not drawing, are mostly unconscious choices. I’m not thinking too much when I do the piece — I just go for it.”

Westerveld will discuss “New Spaces, Same Identities” at an opening reception Friday, March 7, at 8:00 p.m. in the Robert. A Jones ’59 conference room. All are welcome to attend.