Graduation Date
2024
Preview
Date of Exhibition
4-12-2024
Title of Exhibition
As We Are
Artist Statement
During times of grief, people often process loss through their dreams. These dreams can be quite literal, or at times, more symbolic. Some dreamers even find they can communicate with someone they have lost, which offers healing. In the past, I’ve used my art to represent conversations with the dead in dreams and explored themes of denial towards grief. My current work explores imaginative perceptions of the most difficult memories within my unconscious, especially those related to the suicide of my father.
Using vibrant and contrasting colors and textural components, I create dreamlike imagery combining elements of abstraction with representational imagery. I tell a story about my experiences through my paintings by connecting personal memories of my father’s death to related dream imagery, which often depict familiar rooms made strange and ghostly figures. God-fearing considers a complicated relationship with religion using a depiction of a cross necklace in a bird’s grasp, while Baggage represents scenes of people pleasing to cope with grief, using the analogy of feeding ducks. I also draw on conventions of still life to suggest the new meanings objects take on after someone has died. These processes reflect my newfound openness to the trauma that had previously been pushed to the back of my mind.
It has now been seven years since my father’s death, and I am starting to work through it. It’s much easier not to think or talk about my experience, but it’s important work. I hope viewers who have had similar losses and experiences might relate to my work, and perhaps feel less alone in their grief.
Type of Work
Painting
Dimensions
24 x 48 cm
Medium
Acrylic paint
Date of Online Publication
5-23-2024
Rights
Copyright 2024, Catarine Marchione. Reproduced with permission. The artists and/or collaborators who contribute to the Rollins College Student Art Gallery and Archive retain the rights to their own works. In making these collection materials available, Rollins College does not grant permission to reproduce or redistribute them, in part or in full. The College does not own the copyright to any of the materials, cannot grant any requests for permission to reproduce them, and will forward reproduction requests to the artists and/or collaborators.
Keywords
grief, death, family, mourning, suicide, religion, painting, acrylics