Penumbra is my first show, ever. EDGE gallery accepted me as an associate member in June of 2022, and I found an open slot the October. I didn't know how all of my pieces would fit together until they did. I didn't know that I would call my first installation and show penumbra. A year ago I had a gallery owner in Chicago ask me to come up with a cohesive and narrative show idea, and get back to him. I can't remember what it was that I sent to him. My guess is that is was not cohesive, nor narrative. I didn't know yet. I didn't know that I had another year of working through the pain of loss and the struggles of rebuilding my life. I was just making. Compelled to make lost souls climbing out the darkness and into the light, or retreating from the light and into the darkness.
But now I know. As I gather the pieces of my broken heart together, I know. It is both the beginning of everything and an ending of everything. The cardboard I used in these pieces were once boxes. Boxes that took my life to the other side of the world and then nine years later brought me back. Their deconstruction and reconstructions is how I have been rebuilding my life, and mending my heart.
I opened October 7th 2022 with three of my fellow gallery members. My family, neighbors and friends came out to support me. It felt like a coming home that I couldn't embrace up until now. And it felt like a coming out for The Neighbor Lady. Edge is the first physical place I have shown her outside of my home. She fits in nicely with Kay, Katherine and Nolan's work along side her, comforting her as she takes her first steps out into a new world. She is ready. She is a grounded and ready to receive you, if you can make it out to Edge before October 23rd, 2022. After that I'll take her home again. If you missed her, and you need her, she's available by appointment. We all need a Neighbor Lady now and again, someone who holds space for us, no matter what. So if you need her let me know, I'll ask her for you.
