Kelley Pettibone: Bereave You, Me

February 19 – 28, 2020
SVAD Studio 

Reception: February 21, 7:00 – 9:00 pm

Bereave You, Me is a B.F.A. Exhibition by Kelley Pettibone, a Studio Art major in her fourth year of studies the University of South Carolina.

Bereavement: learning to live everyday life while coping with the loss of someone, or something, significant. This exhibition is a collection of expressive narratives of emotion and memories following the loss of my grandparents and parents while completing my undergraduate degree.

Grief is a cycle of emotional seasons that will, at some point, affect every one of us. The physical loss in our everyday lives of someone, or something, we value is the definition of grief that I explore within my work. I interchange the human heart with timepieces as I view the heart to be the ultimate timekeeper of our mortality. I often use birds as a stand-in for myself and as a representation of my loved ones that have passed. In drawing with graphite on mylar, I express both the fragility of life, as the mylar is a fragile surface, and the fleeting nature of time, as the graphite is easily erased from the mylar’s surface.  Through the use of mixed media collage I hope to convey the message that, when living with grief, life is often the same way; we experience layers upon layers of various emotions simultaneously. In my work I often use reclaimed pieces of fabric, thread, buttons, piano music, pieces of clothing, and handmade paper made of shredded documents that all once belonged to past loved ones. Through creative expression, we can honor passed loved ones by giving tangibility to our memories.