Ann Harithas: Memory

d. m. allison gallery presents Ann Harithas: Memory. Opening reception Saturday, May 3, 6pm-8pm. On view through May 31.

The ability to communicate what exists in the mind's eye onto the cave wall or these days onto the "big screen" is the primary characteristic that makes us human. The entire species has this ability to visualize, not just those individuals communicating through unconventional means generally described as artistic.

Through images, and the evolution of the written word, we have been able to record the past, communicate with one another in the present, and project our plans into the future. Recently scientists have discovered that our brain scans are identical whether the subject is seeing an event or object, or recalling an event or object. In other words, visualization is the essence of how we think, and the very thing that makes humanity unique.

 In this exhibition Ann Harithas offers us a first hand account, almost a diary of her recovery from a brain trauma that for a while robbed her of her humanity. We are certainly empty vessels without our personal history, our experiences, and the recollection of our loved ones.

Primarily a collage artist, Harithas was in physical possession of plenty of pictures and materials that had collected in her studio over the years, and as she started to work again something wonderful happened. By sorting through the images from her early childhood to the present the artist was able to recover her faculties and sense of self.

"Upon waking up one morning last year, everything seemed different. I was told that I had suffered a stroke several months before and could not remember much before the stroke and very little after it.I began working with my photographs from the past – not simply looking at them, but also putting them together with images related to my art and images based on scans of my injured brain. The artistic elements excited the brain imaging – and by putting new images with my old photos my memory came alive."

The art she had used to communicate her ideas has now become her conduit for healing. This exhibition is a brave testament to our will to survive as well as the evidence of this artist's personal journey out of darkness.

– d. m. a. 04/19/2014

Pictured: "Memory Lane" 36"x 42" digital image on plex over canvas, y. 2014.