MEMORY AND STORY

Dadian Show
June 13 – July 29, 2005
Dadian Gallery
Washington, DC


Memory and Story
Curator’s Statement


In the works in this exhibition, Ellouise Schoettler remembers her mother as a young war bride, and later, as an old woman with failing memory, in digital prints laminated in long strips of multiple, alternative visions; and in not-quite-crazy quilts made out of old clothes. Schoettler’s manipulated photographs and the stories which accompany them speak of time and loss, of change and continuity, of hope and sorrow.


Her quilts, made of narrow strips of cloth stitched into loose, squarish spirals of color, echo the repetitive columns of the similar-yet-different prints. In both forms, it is not the individual image that is precious, but rather the cumulative effect of multiple visions, suggesting a reality beyond what is seen at first glance.



In "Memory and Story " Ellouise Schoettler shares a piece of her privater past, filtered through an inner light that illuminates a broader more communal meaning. With scraps of fabric and old photographs Schoettler invites us to consider our own lives and those of our ancestors. She reminds us that memories and stories make us who we are.
Deborah Sokolove
irector, Dadian Gallery