To Excavate an Absence

by Chloe Compton

artist Reception:
Thursday, October 2, 2025
from 5:30 - 7:00 pm

Artist Statement:

Memories, much like the natural landscape, are ephemeral, fading and fracturing over time. Both external environments and internal mental landscapes share the common language of erosion, existing as present or absent, remembered or forgotten. My current artistic practice focuses on Conestee Nature Preserve in Mauldin, South Carolina, which serves as my excavation site for memory, containing wetlands and hardwood forests symbolic of the family members who form the branches of my family tree. When hiking in Conestee, I pay attention to the fallen branches, leaves, and lichen, the shifting water channels, and driftwood; collecting fragments created from the impact of weather patterns on the landscape. I replicate the topography of natural objects through methods such as slip-casting, printing, and mold-making. These processes allow me to examine the visual qualities of each object and consider the histories they tell, serving as memory data in the study of remembering and forgetting. Utilizing these slip-cast fragments I layer found objects, cast replicas, and natural materials together to create assemblages that become monuments to different memories and familial narratives. By pairing these sculptures with museum-like didactics consisting of family photographs and story fragments I encourage the viewer to consider the work as data from an archeological study, drawing attention to the metaphoric power of the landscape and its impact on our ability to remember.

This exhibit is FREE, and the public is encouraged to attend.

This exhibit will be on display until October 31, 2025.