The work in this exhibition is united by an interest in how art helps us process and cope with mortality. The work explores a range of topics, from the paranormal, to tarot and the occult, as well as art's unique ability to say: a person was here. This exhibition, like many before it, is about the power of art. It’s a show about art's ability to not only help us process loss but to ask questions about the unknown and art's capacity to make the ephemeral, fleeting lives we have permanent.

Ariel Mitchell starts a painting by applying white paint to a canvas and manipulating it by hand. Through this process, the artist’s fingers dig and scrape into mounds of paint; leaving behind the indexical marks made by a person gone, or an intervention by a poltergeist. Mixed media paintings by Koe present canvases that have been stretched, pulled, and tacked like deer hides, suspended in reclaimed wood frames. Through the ethereal textures of airbrush, Koe’s paintings of a ghostly dog (an animal long associated with the role of guiding the deceased to the next realm) and an anime character (an avatar version of the self) depict ghostly visions of entities unrestricted by corporeal bodies.

An interest in symbolism and tarot is explored by both Sam Hamilton and Bailey Quinlan. Hamilton’s vibrant paintings depict surreal visions in dream-like, pastel environments. Through scenes laden with icons, including sentient, match-wielding insects and ornate wrought-iron gates, Hamilton invites the viewer into her visual universe of real and imagined histories. 

Quinlan’s photography practice reimagines the visual language of the occult through self-portraiture. In her cyanotype prints, the artist assembles tableaus based on the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck throughout the natural environment of the Greenhut property. Using costumes, objects, and gender they imbue their own personal and spiritual meaning in the cards.

Mortality is embodied through the tomb-like presentation of a life-size self portrait of Quinlan, displayed on the floor of the central gallery. The horizontal positioning of the work and its placement, appearing to hover just above the ground, echoes the Siluetta earthworks of Ana Mendieta (1948-1985), informing Quinlan’s investigations of humans’ connection to earth.

Tahlia Quintero’s presentation of found-object sculpture and writing celebrates the relationship shared with her late partner Grace, who recently passed away from cancer. Quintero’s practice freezes and exalts precious moments in time, making her objects immortal testaments to the love that makes life worth living.