Page 85 - Dark Matter:Women Witnessing Issue #3 - December 2015

Dark Matter: Women Witnessing - December, 2015 Issue #3 - EXTINCTION / DEVOTION

Curtain Call: Portable Altars for Grief and Gratitude

Beverly Naidus

Seattle, 2015

Overview of several altars installed at Karl Drerup Gallery, Plymouth State University, NH 2014

!
In the summer of 2014, I found myself making altars about extinction. My heart was breaking and I needed to

find a way to process what I understood was happening to the world and its species. I wanted to make a

series that would roll up and be easy to carry from place to place.

Typically, when I start working with any

concept, I scavenge diverse materials and

let my intuition dance. It’s a form of

“contact improvisation” with words,

materials and feelings, where I let the

weight between each gesture shift, then

find balance, and unexpected forms

emerge. I may start with a bunch of

questions, maybe even a confusion of

thoughts about a particular topic, but the

way to get there is mostly unknown. False

starts can litter the studio and then get

recycled.
!
In Honor of Monarch Butterflies (detail) 2014

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