A graveyard of silk, charcoal and ink lie in patient reflection at the 1045 Elmwood Art Gallery for the Arts.
Kristina Siegel's Memoria Fugit captivated those who walked through the gallery with its interpretations of death and time.
Visitors of the 1045 Elmwood Art Gallery might ask themselves why white pieces of fabric are hanging from the ceiling or find themselves at the back of the gallery, staring down at two pillowcases in confusion. But it isn't until viewers allow themselves to truly see what they're looking at that they realize they're walking amongst the dead in a fabricated cemetery.
Several tombstones, suspended from the ceiling, are materialized through the use of silk organza and wire. Symbols of death and metamorphoses, such as a butterfly or an hourglass, are stitched onto the tombstones; they reinforce the idea that death is a transformation that never ceases. Siegel's own experiences with death and the idea that we "fade away" inspire her work.
"When I transformed these hard materials into soft, it gets [its] own character," Siegel said. "It becomes a different being because it interacts with you as a visitor; it moves because it has another material. It has another stability, and also, it plays with the perception of the visitors because we are all used to a certain material in certain thing."
Siegel, originally from Germany, was inspired by architecture she found in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo and Neustadt Cemetery of Dresden, Germany. The tombstones and monuments used in her work were especially influenced by the structures found in these cemeteries.
The transparent material acts as the skin of an otherwise rough and textured object - an objective Siegel brought with her; she wanted to transfer the monuments from the Buffalo and Dresden cemeteries and give them a formal skin.
Gallery owner, Donald Zinteck, said the exhibit is one of a kind because of its extraordinary presence.
"One thing I've noticed is if you come here in the morning or you come here at night, you turn one light on, another one off, the show looks differently at all times ... it has its own life," Zinteck said.
1045 Elmwood Gallery for the Arts, also known as '1045,' has gone through many transformations of its own. After being built in the early 20th century, it was converted into a Jewish Orthodox synagogue. Men would sit on the first floor for the service and the women would sit separately on a second floor balcony.
Years later, it was used as a spiritualist church for s?(c)ances. Currently, the space is used to showcase different media artists interested in not just selling their work but living their art.
"I was so impressed by the beautiful interior in this building, so I said, 'I have to have this exhibition here,'" Siegel said. "I had to do it because my work somehow had to be here."
Walking in an art gallery is a lot like walking in a cemetery: Each piece of artwork takes up its own space but never affects the other pieces surrounding it, much like a person's final resting spot in a cemetery. Memoria Fugit harnesses the idea that we will never know what impression we leave on this Earth - we'll never know what's left of us when we're gone.
The artist's charcoal and ink drawings are featured on the second floor of the gallery are, which continue the themes of transition and death. The drawing pieces, although on another dimension, live within that same realm of translucency and the fading of time and individuals.
Siegel's Memoria Fugit exhibit will continue until April 5, and a closing reception will be held at the 1045 gallery.
Email: arts@ubspectrum.com
