In the darkened space of Hales Gallery’s Chelsea location, Ebony G. Patterson’s ‘night garden’ entices with elaborately cut works on paper and wall-mounted tapestry installations decorated with strings of beads, glitter and other alluring objects. Each features a female figure (here in pink) with missing face or other body parts, a representative of loss who is literally no longer whole herself. Patterson explains that on occasions of mourning, it’s often women who are the public face of their family or community; as such, this central, sequined figure, like the garden around her, represents ‘beauty concealing trauma and violence.’ (On view through June 18th).
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Ebony G. Patterson at Hales Gallery
Gardens are sites of beauty and loss in Ebony G. Patterson’s rich, cut-paper collages currently on view at Hales Gallery in Chelsea. Draped forms mimic hanging roots and abundant flora that obscure personal items (a doll, a purse) belonging to individuals who are not present. Cut and ripped holes in the assemblage speak to violence that has turned a lush environment into a funerary display. (On view through Dec 20th).