Boxed In/Break Out 2019

Folklore

In 2016, Pope came across 500 Kodachrome slides that chronicled the life of one family from 1948 to 1954. The photographs revealed trips to a fish camp, a bountiful succession of Christmases, views from the river, sunrises, the mighty ocean from the deck of a ship, waterfalls, hugs, new houses, monuments and museums, a car crash, a steam train, laundry hanging on the line, a cold winter, a new car—leaving time standing still in a 2 x 2-inch square.

Pope’s installation for Boxed In/Break Out consists of six large-scale paper quilts centered around the Kodachrome slides, filled with stories of the past that evoke a comforting sense of nostalgia. Each quilt consists of 96 blocks made up of 3,000 hand-cut pieces with varying color schemes and patterns that focus on specific chapters in the family’s history. The memories, once hidden, now will come alive at different times of the day based on the direction of the sun reflecting through the Jepson Center’s east-facing windows.

Chad Alligood, independent curator and guest judge for Boxed In/Break Out, said of Pope’s proposal: “I love how her project weaves together different media and techniques, creating a visual experience that promises to be striking from afar and engrossing at close range. Because various materials included in the work are transparent or translucent, the experience will subtly shift throughout the day depending on light conditions, making it an especially appropriate project for the space. Additionally, the artist’s use of a vocabulary of nostalgia—quilt patterns, Kodachrome slides, and handwritten notes—invites viewers to find narrative connections to the work.”

This exhibition is organized by Telfair Museums and curated by Erin Dunn, Assistant Curator.

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