“Archive of Absence,” a solo exhibition by Deborah Orloff, a professor and associate chair of the Department of Art, has been extended through Sunday, Jan. 18, at River House Arts’ Second-Floor Gallery, 425 Jefferson Ave.
The exhibition features 35 new pieces from two projects, “Elusive Memory: Constructed Histories” and “Elusive Memory: What Remains,” Orloff started while on sabbatical last year, both of which are inspired by her experience with genealogy research.
“Archive of Absence,” a solo exhibition by Deborah Orloff, a professor and associate chair of the Department of Art, has been extended through Sunday, Jan. 18, at River House Arts’ Second-Floor Gallery, 425 Jefferson Ave.
Most of this work is being shown for the first time.
“Elusive Memory: Constructed Histories” is a collage project.
“In these intimate assemblages, I’m juxtaposing physically altered (cut out) family photos with images I made in European locations relevant to my ancestry and Jewish history including the Holocaust,” Orloff said. “Conflating time, people and places, these pieces start to suggest stories and relationships that could have transpired but, like my family history, can never be fully known.”
“Elusive Memory: What Remains” originated while she was traveling through Eastern Europe to make source material for the “Constructed Histories” collage project.
“While photographing concentration camps and other sites related to my Jewish heritage, I was particularly struck by spaces that had traumatic histories but little to no visual evidence of what took place at the sites,” Orloff said. “Thinking about this ‘erasure of history,’ I sought and photographed these poignant places to create a parallel body of work, ‘Elusive Memory: What Remains.’ ”
Orloff also will be giving a gallery talk about the two projects on Sunday, Jan. 18, at 2 p.m. This will be the final day to see the show and an opportunity for people to ask questions and have an informal dialogue about it.
Gallery hours are Friday and Saturday from 1 to 6 p.m. and by appointment.
