Haunt and Hold // Gallery 72 // Atlanta, GA // March – April, 2017

In my experiences with caregiving, I was confronted with the vulnerable physicality of both infant and elderly bodies. Oftentimes, these intensely visceral moments compelled me to reconsider both my material existence and my intangible spiritual assumptions. In Haunt and Hold, I ruminate on these memories with vulnerable bodies and the mythical traditions from my upbringing that caregiving prompted me to reconsider.

The exhibition adapts the format of the medieval memory palace, an imagined space in which striking and unusual objects are arranged in order to prompt a memory. This space functions as my memory palace of sorts, in which I’ve placed sculptural works that serve as reminders of the body.

Using specific materials, like spun hair, feathers, and feet made of soap, I narrate and re-contextualize personal family rituals and stories involving the body. In other works, like the fleshy ceramic sculptures and the silk pieces felted with hair, I reference the body without narrating it literally, and reflect on the sensations I experienced while caregiving.

While the work is deeply rooted in my subjective memory, I intend to create engaging and uncanny encounters for viewers by presenting them with forms, materials, and scenarios that are visceral and unusual, but also hauntingly familiar.