for Maudlin Dust, 2021
Exhibited at Layton Street, May 28-29 2021
In examining the conditions of modernity through the terms of folklore itself, the erosion of rural communities appears preordained. Via the performance of superstition, documentation of speculative omens and recreation of rites, settler mythologies are extrapolated upon and newly imagined. By observing the hapless prospects of rural communities through the veil of folklore, alternate truths and histories more illuminating than those prescribed may be understood.
The maudlin sentimentality of these communities contains a sort of animism that can be observed in the heirlooms and keepsakes of ones holding. Though often functionless at face value, these objects are instilled with the potent emotional memories, histories and lore of a familial and communal lineage. Like the Acheulean tools of our distant predecessors, these relics may act as a vessel, projecting forth a memory otherwise forgotten.
