November 15, 2018 – January 13, 2019
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 17, 2018 at 2pm
Daemon & Saudade explores emotion, grief, loss and preservation through a series of photographic prints and sculptural garments paired to reveal both the beauty and pain of emotion. A series of dress forms display garments as worn sculpture that speak about wearing your narrative. Simple garments comment on a daily routine of camouflage and façade and how one carries on and copes in the face of grief and trauma. This sculptural work uses the body as a dimensional canvas to relay a narrative that fuses textiles with art. Intangible stories and memories are given a tactile presence detailing intimate accounts, and ephemeral events such as conversations and recollections are translated into objects. The work captures and preserves the marks left on us by experiences we live. Whether it is the loss of a loved one or a relationship, grief is a condition, a state, an emotion, and a process we all share.
Daemon indicates something going on behind the scenes; today it typically refers to a computer program that is running in the background and is beyond the user’s control. In language, we have many phrases that speak to the same idea. Expressions such as more than meets the eye or read between the lines allude to the same concept — a subtext that is meant to be understood but not stated.
Saudade is one of those words that is just missing from the English language — words that convey a complexity of meaning and sentiment. It refers to the love that remains after someone is gone. It encompasses feelings and experiences, emptiness and absence, nostalgia and melancholy. It is an emotional state that brings both sad and happy feelings together.