Hosted by Nadazul Gallery in Studio #6

Autumn is a time of remembrance, a time to experience nature’s sublime mystery of letting go, a time where falling is a great symphony of leaves and colors as nature transforms into a vast array of breathtaking beauty and decay. A reminder of the impermanence of our human condition.

This exhibit is a collaboration of works on Death and dying, offering rituals to acknowledge death and its role in our culture through art, spirit, and community.

 Our goal is to bring to our community a journey, a ritual exhibit whose purpose is healing for all our relations, our lost loves and friends, our loss of communities, jobs, and social norms. The Event is part inspired by the memorial celebration of The Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) i.e a Mexican holiday observed throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures through engaged art and landscapes/soulscapes. The experience provides a poetic space for the imagination and honors the essence of the Day of the Dead, of memorials, of art forms of Memento Mori, of objects that engage remembering, that bring comfort and gratitude. An Altar embodies transition, channels the death experience to create solace. Visitors can offer small written notes to those who are gone as a way of letting their love find acknowledgment and a resting place, leaving the note in our coffin. Our mission is to inspire conversations about a death positive culture and what we are calling art and death literacy.

Maria Epes is a feminist artist working in the media, art installation, sculpture, printmaking, and works on paper and artists’ books. Her specific focus is on expressions of the body, in life and in death, with concern for the equality of women and the acceptance of death as part of life, striving for art to heal and inform the sacred, often through the participation in ritual. Her work has been exhibited and cataloged internationally at venues including The National Museum of Women in the Arts, MOMA New York, ABC No Rio, Ceres Gallery, Franklin Furnace, La Mama La Galleria, and is represented in the Feminist Art Database at the Brooklyn Museum. She holds a B.F.A. from Cornell University and M.F.A. from California College of the Arts and is based in Asheville, North Carolina.