Daisy Patton: Imaginary Homelands at UMass Amherst

13 September - 9 December 2024

Koslov Larsen is thrilled to highlight Daisy Patton's two-person show with painter Alicia Brown at UMass Amherst: Imaginary Homelands, on view September 13 – December 9, 2024. 

 

In Imaginary Homelands, the body becomes a vessel for storytelling, exploring identity, diaspora, place, and time. Inspired by Dutch master portraiture, Alicia Brown’s gorgeously decorated figures pose as a pointed connection to the history of the Caribbean and colonialism. Patton’s focus on women from the Southwest Asia and Northern Africa region speaks to her efforts to (re)connect with Iranian culture and the interiority of women’s lives which often go unrecognized despite how they carry forward family histories.

 

Patton’s paintings echo the ornateness found in Iranian art and architecture to attempt to slowly dissolve the imposter syndrome she felt by not growing up with her Iranian family, with the hopes of restoring and building something that can never truly be complete, never what could have been. In Brown’s work, her paintings of her family members demonstrate familial bonds and histories over time that have been preserved despite immigration and adaptation. The poignant narratives within her work takes the viewer on a journey that delves into the intersection of identity, memory, and belonging, shedding light on the intricate tapestry of a diasporic experience shaped by both nostalgia and forging of new, imaginative homelands. For both artists, belonging wholly encompasses the physical and intangible, of time, place, family, and culture.

 

EXHIBITION INFORMATION