THOMASVILLE- Longtime artist Emily McKenna was overcome with joy and emotion on Thursday evening, as her first solo exhibit “Good Girl” opened at the Thomasville Center for the Arts.

A mother to a young daughter, McKenna had heard the term “good girl” several times in her life, but hearing the term used on her daughter inspired her to create a collection surrounding the numerous meanings of “good girl” and its connotations.

“I grew up with those words over me, and at every stage of life they mean something different,” McKenna said. “When I heard someone call her that, it caused me to reflect and look at it with 20/20 vision.”

McKenna explained that over the years, she has tried to live up to the infamous words, but the goalposts were always moving.

“The meaning of the words were always changing, depending on what age you are and what role you’re in,” she said. “It feels like this moving goal line.”

With the meaning constantly changing, the term could often feel derogatory and condescending, while at other times it may be genuine and loving.

“I just thought that two words that can seem sweet and good have so much meaning,” she said.

To personify these words, McKenna used fabrics threading the word “good girl” into each piece. With the backgrounds telling a story, the words are printed in a single monochromatic tone, displaying their stark contrast in the modern world.

“The last few years I’ve used thrifted and vintage fabrics that are patterned from quilts, housecoats, aprons, and curtains,” she said. “The life of these fabrics before I get them speaks to the theme of good girl.”

McKenna said she hopes that through using these fabrics, viewers will understand she and her daughter are not the first “good girls,” but it’s a term that has been thrust upon women for generations.

“Our grandmothers, our mothers, our daughters have these words that are used to define us,” she said.

Utilizing fabrics and text, McKenna’s ultimate goal for opening night was to start a conversation among women and men about the journey of the words, “good girl.”

“I hope they start off by seeing the chaos,” she explained.

The exhibit starts with one-way signs pointing in all directions, displaying McKenna’s frenzied state when she first heard the words “good girl” used toward her daughter.

“I just don’t want her to have to deal with that,” she said.

As the viewer travels, the words change connotation, just as they did in McKenna’s life. They take root in a sheer piece entitled “glass ceiling,” before finding their way into the clothing McKenna wore throughout her life, closing her in even more.

McKenna explained the pieces of clothing were the most personal, as they showcased her evolution from a little girl into a mother.

“When I was little, I liked being called a good girl, but as I became a teenager, it became an insult,” she said. “Then, I got married and I had a new identity as a wife and mother.”

McKenna’s identity as a wife and mother is showcased in a sheer dress, representing the ghost of her former self and the identity of her future self.

“I was only defined by what people needed from me for a while,” she said.

This identification changed as McKenna opened her own company and found herself through art.

“You gradually see me start to question if I want to fit into these words or do I want to be who I want to be,” she said.

McKenna’s journey comes to a head when she lets out a “primal scream” in what seems to be a padded wall, before descending into a camouflage piece that no longer says “one way,” but “own way.”

McKenna shared that the camouflage piece is not meant to be a huge statement, but it’s a reminder to viewers that it’s okay to take a deep breath or have a scream, before moving on.

“Move on in the way you want, and be as good as you want to be,” she said.

McKenna found success in moving on from the confines of the “good girl” narrative, as her exhibit opened to the public, sharing great excitement in the fact the artwork that has brewed inside her for so long is now on display.

“I was able to expand ideas that I had worked on before,” she said. “I got the opportunity to go big and fully investigate what those words mean to me and what the big picture looks like.”

As vulnerable as McKenna felt putting herself out for visitors to critique, she concluded by sharing she was equally excited, as she was exactly where she was meant to be at that moment.