Artist Talk - Dylan Mortimer

Exhibition Statement

Scars to Stars is an exhibition of Dylan Mortimer’s work over the last several years.  This body of work aims to stand in the tension between trauma and healing.  Employing symbols that have been traumatic in his lived experience being born with a fatal respiratory disease and receiving two double lung transplants, he aims to transform and recontextualize those symbols. Scars, IV poles, cells, ambulances, and surgeries become beacons of hope and joy testifying both the darkness and the hope simultaneously.  The aggressive joy rendered in layers of glitter evoke the absurd faith of hope in seemingly hopeless situations.

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Artist Statement

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The symbols that collide in my work fuse anatomical, biological, and medical imagery with spiritual and religious themes. Shiny materials invoke the Baroque as a way of navigating a deadly diagnosis. My whole life has been an attempt to spread glitter over a seemingly hopeless situation. I aim to reference and navigate my own despair, transformation, and joy. It is my own leap of faith.

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My work employs shiny, glowing, vibrant materials to evoke a transformation from a deadly disease I was diagnosed at birth. The transformation aims to provide a glimmer of hope in seeming hopelessness.

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A variety of materials are used, from glitter suspended in resin, to lights, to colored glass.  The aim is to collide a variety of discoveries into a contemporary manifestation of the baroque. Acknowledging pain and challenge, while simultaneously recognizing hope to overcome.