Seah Fitzgerald
Fine Art & Art History
Notes to Self Ⅰ
Reliquary for a dream
Maybe some tenderness maybe some blood
seclusion
Notes to Self I
Reliquary for a Dream
Maybe Some Tenderness Maybe Some Blood
Seclusion
Project statement
These works are records of my ongoing process of personal identity construction as I have been reflecting on it during the past two years at Columbia. They take on a conceptual agenda in hopes of somewhat obscuring what yearns to be found, and include remnants, memories, notes, and thoughts about the necessary questions of existence, in comparison to a less grand day-to-day experience. Being an individual is such a peculiar experience in such a hyper-connected world!
It is rife with an immense selection of struggles and communities to gravitate towards. Many struggles are thrust upon us, meeting our eye even as we attempt to turn from them. The Pandemic has forced a confrontation of Death in particular. When my time alive ceases, do I cease to exist? Do these artifacts of life persist and should they? How and why do we keep reaching for a content existence amidst the destruction of our ecosystems & social landscapes, and the daily confrontation of bodily and emotional horrors?
News is a lot to function around, and sometimes a scratchy throat is harder when we don’t know the severity. Continuing school throughout this world tragedy begs for meaning and purpose, where maybe these objects provide solace, or maybe they take up space and nothing more. As with any question worth asking, the resolution appears to lie deep within the beholder.
You’ll find in these works some philosophy on the dualities of tenderness and violence, particularly of comfort and ruin. If you feel like it, leave your copy of Myth of Sisyphus by Camus on the gallery floor, and know it will be severely appreciated.
About the Artist
Seah is an interdisciplinary artist who primarily works in sculpture, assemblage, assisted readymade compositions, ceramics, and other 3D arts. They/he/she has a strong interest in conceptual art manifesting through the visual and are committed to obscuring what yearns to be found. They come from a strong arts-and-crafts background, leading to a multitude of outlets for achieving their creative goals. In hoping to spread recognition & representation around the complexity of identity construction in conjunction with trauma, Seah crafts queered sculptures and assemblages that embody the self through resourcefulness, protection, and a tinge of glamour.
“Seah is a multi-disciplinary artist who works with issues that are deeply connected to what it means to be human. They address gender identity, love, loss, trauma, and personal connections to the past, both spatial and psychological, and the ambiguous memories and potent feelings that all these subjects elicit. Their use of modest, often reclaimed, materials reflect their interest in grounding these investigations in the everyday.”
— Adam Brooks, Associate Professor, Art and Art History