Echo of the Unknown, Williamsburg-based artist Janet Biggs’s exhibition of new work at the Blaffer Art Museum in Houston, Texas, is on view until 21 March 2015. In it, by means of video, sound and sculpture, Biggs (b1959) explores memory, concepts and constructs of selfhood, and Alzheimer’s disease, an increasingly topical subject as our lifespan increases and more and more members of the post-second world war generation are afflicted by it. Inspired by the research of neuroscientists and geologists, and in collaboration with musicians and composers, she asks: What constitutes our sense of self, our individual identity, when our memory fails us? What remains of consciousness? These are the complicated questions she grapples with in this concentrated, finely tuned and very moving exhibition presented by independent curator Janet Phelps.
Lilly Wei: Would you tell me about the origins of this exhibition, which I believe you said were more autobiographical than usual?
Janet Biggs: While this project stems from my very personal memories of several of my family members’ struggles with Alzheimer’s disease, it has expanded into a more meandering journey, a meditation on the challenges of maintaining a sense of self in the face of extreme conditions, both physical and emotional.
