Inner Workings

APRIL 27 – JUNE 8, 2024
OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, May 4, 1–3pm
CLOSING RECEPTION: Saturday, June 1, 1–3pm

Artist Talk at 2pm both days during Open Studios

WESTERN AVENUE STUDIOS

2nd Floor Mini Gallery (near studio 241)
122 Western Avenue
Lowell, MA 01851
www.westernavenuestudios.com
Hours: Open Daily, 10–4pm

Photo by Henry Marte, Marte Media

The large paintings in this series are based on the MRI scans that led to my father’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Painted in black, white, and silver, they are larger-than-life renderings that offer an impossible view inside my father’s brain. Attached to the paintings with magnets are torn strips of canvas and pieces of my father’s hardware collection, which he saved and used over many years to repair our family home. These jars of metal pieces fascinated me as a child and hint at both the wonder and care that parents provide for their children.

Disease without cure can make us want to do something, even when there is nothing to be done. Finding a way to sit with the person, the disease, and our feelings without pushing any of it away is a challenge. I believe that looking closely, collectively grieving, and acknowledging our helplessness can help us move towards a place of acceptance. Opening ourselves up to the deep brokenness and deterioration that happens in a human life can be, in the end, what repairs us.