Rae Stern: In Fugue

Debuted at the Belger Arts Gallery, Rae Stern: In Fugue presented two corresponding bodies of work named “Outside Time” and “Hypomnemata”. The new work focuses on the elusive and ephemeral nature of memory as both a personal and universal phenomenon. Using mixed media, Stern revisits the memories of families affected by persecution. Through the manipulation of translucent attributes of porcelain and paper, and with innovative use of digital technology, the works pose questions about the relationship between object, memory, and time.

Reaching out to Holocaust survivors and their descendants, Stern established a framework for community engagement. The images were collected over several months, during which Stern interviewed many of the image contributors.

Following a long R&D process, Stern devoted an entire year to create the artwork at Belger Crane Yard Studios, where Tommy Frank, Michael Baxley, Katie Pitre, Joseph Hutchins, Elinore Noyes, Saj Issa, Clay Jarratt and Lucas Latimer assisted the project in different capacities.

Creating the work at a studio open to the public enabled Stern to interact with visitors on a daily basis. Groups of K12 and college students visited the studio to see the work in progress and discussed with her the conceptual relevance to current geopolitical shifts.

Stern sees an urgency in presenting this exhibition while survivors are still able to tell their stories and interact with the general public. The importance of the timing is amplified in the context of the international refugee crisis and rise in racism, xenophobia and hate speech.

Much like a musical fugue, the exhibition introduces elements that successively develop while they are interwoven visually and conceptually in a dynamic composition. The tension between repetition and change, and between memory and amnesia, alludes to the imminent threat of a present day reoccurrence.

Exhibition preview directed and produced by Johanna Brooks.
Filmed on site at the Belger Art Center and Crane Yard Studios, Kansas City, MO. 2019-2020
Additional footage by Saj Issa, Cydney Ross and Katie Pitre.
Professional Photography by T. Maxwell Wagner.