Opening Reception of EVER/AFTER
Join us on Thursday, October 30th for the Opening Reception of EVER/AFTER! Costumes are welcome.
EVER/AFTER is a collaborative multimedia art project that consists of photographs by Marion Belanger and ink paintings and collage by Martha Willette Lewis. This visual dialogue grew from their shared state of unease and concern regarding the climate/environmental crisis. Belanger makes photographs in the field and prints them on lightweight but durable rice paper that Lewis then soaks, stains, tears and paints upon. The added stress upon the photographic image (some which have already been altered by double exposure and intentional abstraction) symbolically references the damages and disturbances such as extreme storms, forest fires and extinctions that are now so evident in daily life. Manipulated, gilded, stained and torn, the works become artifacts bearing the impact of human touch, just as the land itself does. Fragile and beautiful, Ever/After is a visual lament for the seepages, shifts, losses, extinctions, and extractions made by humankind.
Belanger and Lewis have been collaborating since 2016. They created the permanent installation Insects & Plants: Excavating the Archive at the Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station in New Haven. The Underneath, an immersive multi-media installation was commissioned by Artspace in 2016. Ever/ After is an ongoing series regarding the threatened environment, and Strange and Beautiful Sound is recent work centered on the coastline of Long Island Sound.