Antigonish is a visual meditation on memory, trauma, and the lingering presence of histories long erased. Inspired by William Hughes Mearns’ haunting poem, which explores the spectral presence of a ghost—a manifestation that can be interpreted as a memory of trauma or an encounter with the shadow self.
At the core of this work is a photograph of a Native American woman, her identity intertwined with a textile bearing a symbol that has been erased from history—an emblem once rich with cultural significance, now obscured and cannibalized by a different symbol.
Through a slow, rhythmic projection of the photograph onto the layered surface of the painting, the image slowly fading in and out—oscillating between presence and absence. This act of fading mirrors the elusive nature of memory—how certain histories are selectively remembered or forgotten. And at the same time, reflects the persistent tension between acknowledgment and denial, confronting the shadowy remnants of trauma rooted deep within history.
Drawing a line with current wars, and the policy of migration, Antigonish is an invocation to recognize the ghosts that haunt our collective memory—those erased stories and suppressed symbols—and to confront the shadow self of those who manipulate the narrative, and those who chose not to see it.
In the painting, the eyes of the portrait are intentionally absent, just like the saying goes: only the blind can see.
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
I wish, I wish he'd go away...
