Dear Diane and Shaded Viewers,
Art has always been a site of personal catharsis, however Sophie Calle's latest exhibition elevates this concept to a particularly poignant level. "Rachel, Monique" deals with the death of Calle's mother, Monique Sindler, in 2006.
The show features works such as Sindler's final words spelled out in butterflies, a narration of her diaries by Kim Cattrall, as well as photographic reproductions of her grave and a coffin filled with her most treasured belongings. The fact that the exhibition is set in the Upper East Side's Episcopal Church of Heavenly Rest gives the show's themes of life, death and memory all the more resonance.
While it would be wrong to deny the great sense of loss that is felt when walking through the exhibition, rather than tragic mourning the final impression is one of beautiful immortalization.
http://www.paulacoopergallery.com
Later,
Carla
