Maureen Segota, HELD
My brother died unexpectedly on May 10, 2023. A few months later, on a trip planned long before his passing, my husband and I traveled to Croatia to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. I packed my watercolors and planned on painting the flora and fauna of the island of Unije. Instead, I made pictures of their shadows.
In this series of works, shadows express life's intangible and ephemeral nature. Was I seeking the shadows, or did they give me an escape? Being in an unfamiliar environment was not enough to avoid the sorrow that filled my mind's eye. This work emerged unexpectedly, but that is Art. Expect the unexpected. I incorporated my love of collage, paper-cutting, and photography in this series to create an enigmatic experience, allowing the imagination to take over. The cutout shadows are ever-changing, representing beauty in the duality of what was once there being gone.
Silhouettes, created from shadows cast by people and things, were photographed, cut out, and collaged onto photos of my hand “holding” shadows of various flowers and fauna. A flashlight hangs next to each work. The viewer uses it to illuminate the silhouette, create shadows and an individual experience with the piece, viewing it from different directions and transforming it into something new.
Interspersed among the hands are silhouettes on cut-out balsa wood and paper. These works are an amalgamation of shadows in my photos combined to create abstract designs representing memories.
Are the spaces jammed full or vastly empty? Are the shadows allowing us to see the light? Yes, this is the beginning of remembering.