In “Dissociative: Pushing Against the Norm,” Jodi Throckmorton, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art for the Ulrich Museum of Art, asked some provocative, existential questions to the young artists whose work was selected for the juried showing.

“What are you pushing against?” Throckmorton asked. “What do we do to reject, remake, or reinvent the world around us?”

“The show is all about things being what they’re not,” explained Wichita State senior Jessica Kerr.

University of Missouri artist Ginnifer O’Keefe wanted to push the boundary of accepted method, arrangement and form for her piece, “Three Sieves.”

“Within this vein of questioning, I equate my work to that of a good punk rock song: brief, impassioned and raw,” O’Keefe said in a statement accompanying the piece.

This questioning of the status quo is the main theme of the collection, as explained by Throckmorton.

“At the core of these inquiries is the impulse to, through art, creatively dissociate or detach from reality in order to challenge the status quo,” Throckmorton said.

Such a heavy concept inevitably leads to somber art, as evidenced by University of Tennessee artist April Batchel, whose haunting piece, “Soles Souls,” seeks to instill empathy in the viewer by reminding them of something that they’ve lost.

For a show that features some truly impressive work, there is a noticeable lack of contributions from WSU students, something Kerr saw as a positive thing.

“When I see work from all of my friends, I know what they’ve done to finish it,” Kerr said. “It’s nice to see finished work without seeing it being made. There’s more surprise.”

The show can be viewed until Nov. 29 at the Shift Space, Wichita State’s intimate off-campus art gallery, located at 416 S. Commerce, Suite 102.