Published in the Weekly Volcano, May 12, 2016
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| Carriage with rocks and rope |
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| Coat with strange medal and medical reports printed on strips of paper. |
Salon Refu owner Susan Christian describes the gallery’s
current show, Hatch, as an experiment
in literary installation. “It began as a chapbook of poems exploring a
devastating birth experience and the eventual joys of parenting an uncommonly determined (and exceptionally funny)
child. Images from the poems are ‘built out’ into the gallery space, made from materials which reach back to touch prehistoric ritual
traditions surrounding death and the afterlife, as well as incorporating toys from our own culture.”
The artist’s seven-year-old son, Heath, was born with severe cerebral
palsy.
Words
from Montgomery’s poems about her son are mixed with words out of Heath’s mouth
and things others have said about and to him, along with many artifacts from
and about his young life. In some cases the words make up titles for the
artifacts presented
as sculptures and wall
reliefs. The pieces are not put together in a coherent or easily understood
manner, but rather in a kind of hodge-podge that forces the viewer to puzzle
out the meanings.
It
is not an easy installation to suss out, but it is an installation that can be
emotionally moving and intellectually stimulating.
Symbols
of birth and death abound, often in the form of eggs or of swaddling or
bandaging. There is a giant inflatable egg swaddled in gauze, and there is a
little toy horse and rider bandaged head-to-toe like a mummy, with medical
reports typed out in tiny letters and adhered to the bandages.
Examples
of random words and items:
●
The child's grandfather's childhood coat combined with shredded
lab reports and "a strange medal.”
●
Printed large on the wall: "Hug Goofy," "Know your
carnivores," and "Is that the wrong word?" .
●
A small bunny doll sits in a bed of pills in a Tibetan singing
bowl. A label explains that the pills are anti-cholinergic medicines. The title card includes a warning (in all-caps): “For
God's sake do not eat, very dangerous and has no enjoyable side effects."
●
A baby carriage filled with large stones and a rope extending to
and visually through the ceiling represents life, death, and the umbilical
cord.
●
Another label explains that viewers are invited to play with an
installation of toys and medical supplies titled "What is so atrocious it
gives rise to laughter?"
Montgomery is a poet and a mother, not a visual artist, but this installation displays
outstanding aesthetic sensibilities.
Salon Refu, Thursday-Sunday 2-6 p.m., and by
appointment. Through May 29, 114 N. Capitol Way, Olympia,
riddie.glenn@gmail.com.
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