Aiora or All Things Cosmic, 2025 | white oak, mica, sleeping bag filling
 

A site-specific installation created during my residency at I-Park (CT), in response to the memorial character of the place, it approaches grief as a transitional state—something that doesn’t settle or resolve, but keeps transforming. The installation centers on a swing, an object always suspended and moving in the in-between, it carries associations with childhood, but also with the ancient Greek Aiora ritual, where swinging was used to move through loss by way of celebration.

 

A quilted backpack acts as a receptacle for mica, a sheet-like, translucent mineral that appears in certain Native American ritual objects as a reflective threshold between worlds, it also functions as the swing’s seat, with an animistic presence drawn from nearby forms such as ferns and feathers. All materials were sourced locally and they each presented interesting challenges that have since been integrated in my practice. This piece is dedicated to my grandmother Eirini / Irene, whose name translates as peace—a quiet intention that shaped the work and its placement within I-Park.