Burnt Offerings...

... an art exhibit at our local Station Gallery. 

In 2021, the artist Kim-Lee Kho lost her father during Covid which meant that his family could not visit and care for him. She worried that her father would die of loneliness before anything else. She decided to put together a show around grief, love and loss, and the ephemerality of all things and thought that other people who experienced the same thing would identify with that subject. 

"Using photography in many different forms, along with other media, her show looks at the faces of grief, the weight of it, some specific practices around mourning, and poetic ways of looking at loss."  

The title Burnt Offerings alludes to the ancient ritual of burning things whether as offerings or sacrifice, as purification or as prayer, and features "images and elements of fire, charred surfaces and drawings produced by heat and flame, and photo-based sculpture that draws on the artist's Chinese heritage." 

The exhibit includes a basin into which viewers are invited to deposit a piece of special Chinese "joss" paper ( provided) upon which they have written about their own personal grief or loss. After the exhibit is over, the artist will perform a collective burnt offering of the contributions, take a video of it and post it online.

I enjoyed strolling through the exhibit and found the various faces very moving, but must admit that I did not understand the meaning of some of the items...the flying shirts, the little hut with the candles and tray of ashes. I must make an effort to attend the opening evening presentations when the artist is there to introduce the exhibit. I think that would help me get more out of my visits... 

PS: Missed posting yesterday as I decided to devote my usual computer time to writing long-overdue emails to friends far away and then chatting with family...I entirely forgot to at least take a photo! Oops...How hard would that have been?