Zelda McAfee’s BFA thesis exhibition, “Hell is Empty, and You Are Here,” challenges visitors to confront how silence and loyalty can make ordinary people complicit in harm. Throughout February, visitors to ShiftSpace Gallery at 120 E. 1st St. N. in Wichita can experience the painful journey behind senior Zelda McAfee’s BFA thesis exhibition.
The exhibition addresses a deep theme of childhood abuse, neglect and assault, topics that McAfee said are often minimized or ignored within communities. It showcases more than a year of artistic work drawn from McAfee’s family materials, including letters, photographs and archival documents from their childhood.
“This work is not meant for the viewer,” McAfee said. “You are in a dynamic that was never supposed to be seen.”
The exhibition is an L-shape, arranged strategically to guide visitors through the gallery, piecing together a story that feels unavoidable.
“You are so easily an accomplice in excusing behavior because someone is your friend, your lover or your child,” McAfee said. “Covering for them is never okay.”
A core part of the exhibition includes letters written by McAfee’s father while he was serving in the military, addressed to McAfee and other family members in the event of his death. The letters, which outlined funeral arrangements and final goodbyes, are displayed on mirrors, ensuring that viewers see themselves reflected as they read, breaking down the distance between the observer and subject.
“When you are looking the mirrors and reading all of the text, you realize how easily these things could involve you,” McAfee said.
McAfee described the process of creating the exhibition as methodical, explaining that the work was not intended as a personal confession or emotional release. While the exhibition draws from personal materials, they said assembling the pieces began to feel less like storytelling and more like documentation.
“It almost started feeling like I was evidence building,” McAfee said. “The pieces led you to a conclusion by the end of your exploration of the gallery.”
At the corner of the L-shaped exhibition, the viewer is met with a picture of McAfee as a child titled “Is This Arousing?”. McAfee said it is meant to unsettle. The gallery is arranged so the piece is not immediately visible, making it so viewers walk the length of the exhibit before encountering what McAfee describes as a “gut punch.”
Revisiting archival materials, like the photos and letters, was emotionally difficult, but McAfee said the discomfort was necessary.
“I still get a visceral reaction of disgust,” McAfee said. “But I felt like it was important that these things be seen.”
Despite the heaviness of the subject matter, the exhibition incorporates moments of childhood whimsy through colorful alphabet magnets and children’s toys and books, meant to create a false sense of security.
“I always have to have some element of whimsy throughout,” McAfee said. “So I added those fridge magnets, like a pop of color, to lead you into this false sense of security. When you see it from afar, you think, ‘Oh, these are cute, I recognize those,’ and then you actually look at the work and you’re like, ‘Oh.’”
McAfee hopes that visitors leave the exhibition questioning not only the actions shown in the work, but the ways silence and loyalty can enable harm.
“These letters could have been sent to you,” they said. “This could be about someone you know.”
“Hell is Empty, and You Are Here” is on display through Feb. 27 at ShiftSpace Gallery, 120 E 1st St N, Wichita, KS 67202.
