IKESHA AVO
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Monument is an installation I created within the group exhibition called Line Shifu and Bakery Shifu curated by Small-Time Project. It reflects my process of exploring the recent loss of my relative and the various practices of different cultures after a death.
Monument is a moment within my grief process that possibly comes down to responding to the felt absence of the deceased by building something to dignify their once strong presence. As my family and I made funeral plans and met important dates of the deceased such as their birthday, the question of what is customary and what is appropriate arises. Family and friends will all have different ideas, and this is perhaps equally varied across cultures. Some customs seem absurd and others completely important.
Dealing with what at times feels like a tumultuous emotional energy in grief, is often due to dealing with the void space. The space being the absence of the person who was once there, of whom even after their death my mind is still very much in relationship with. Monument is my attempt to process that energy and reflect on what’s appropriate when the deceased can no longer speak for themselves.
On the other hand, Monument is very simply a documentation of a person's life and an attempt to understand it.
Pictures above from top to bottom:
Installation photo of the painting monument
monument (2025) Egg white tempura with pigment on wood, 27cm x 30cm
Installation photo of the impermanence and monument
Installation of impermanence (2025) Pastels, gum arabic with pigment on beetroot dyed linen; cardboard tube, 167cm x 137cm
Early roads (2025) gum arabic with pigment on wood, 25cm x 35cm
Installation photo of monument, front line II and Early roads
Front line II (2025) Gum arabic with pigment on wood, 35cm x 30cm
Garden I (2025) Charcoal on paper, 26cm x 37cm