Dawn Dedeaux

A beautiful reminder of the fragility of life. Without knowing the back story for this work, we simply stands before it contemplating the compelling composition. Clearly charred wood. Totems of a previous culture maybe. Vertical lines ascending. One perceives a sacred space formed by the tension between these elements. But whatever this space was, it no longer exists. These burnt columns remain to tell a story.

Chimes. Then you read the title of the work. There is no sound. This reinforces the thought that this represents something that has been destroyed by fire. Something important. Something sacred.

Studio. The artist’s studio burned down. All her work was lost. You then read that these “chimes” are actually beams from her destroyed studio, placed as vertical sentinels keeping guard as she mourns.

Fragility. We are constantly learning about the fragility of our world - and everything in it. But even when faced with tragic loss, we go forward. Mourning. Learning. Suffering. Growing. Evolving. Loving. Dying.

Humanity. Extending the artist’s personal experience to her meaning. You read further. The artist’s interviews and writings tell a darker tale. She uses her personal experience the remnants of her loss as a larger metaphor for the harm that humanity continues to inflict of each other and the world we inhabit. Will nature decide to remove humanity as a failed experiment of evolution?

Tolling. In previous interviews and writings about the artist’s work, this famous phrase keeps coming up, “For whom the bell tolls?”. The artist’s message is clear. With every step humanity takes, good or bad, it is providing healing or inflicting harm on itself. Will we learn to live our lives without taking away from others? Will we continue to make progress without  learning to respect nature? If not, the end we are heading to will be dark, for us and for our children.

by John C. Clements

ThinkArtMagazine.com

In association with Arroscia Residency

photo by John C. Clements