Collection: The Absence Of Evidence Is Not The Evidence Of Absence, Selected By Christalena Hughmanick (online exhibition)

About the exhibition

This exhibition strings together graphic images developed by each artist to reconsider written language in relation to early human mark making. From a talk given by paleoanthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger in 2015 entitled Why are these 32 symbols found in ancient caves all over Europe?

“As you pass through the portal between light and dark, you enter a subterranean world --a place of perpetual gloom, of earthy smells, of hushed silence. Long ago in Europe, ancient people also entered these underground worlds. As witness to their passage they left behind mysterious engravings and paintings...triangles and zigzags from Ojo Guareña in Spain. You now walk the same path as these early artists. And in this surreal, otherworldly place, it's almost possible to imagine that you hear the muffled footfall of skin boots on soft earth, or that you see the flickering of a torch around the next bend. When I'm in a cave I often find myself wondering what drove these people to go so deep to brave dangerous and narrow passageways to leave their mark?”

About the selector

Christalena Hughmanick is an artist and educator making textiles and sculptural installations that become activated by performance works. In 2019 she designed a public engagement project, The Freedom Quilt Hungary, which examines individual notions of freedom and democracy through collective quilt-making in Hungary. Recent exhibition sites include Faur Szofi in Budapest, Carriage Trade in New York, Andrew Rafacz and MPSTN in Chicago. She has been an artist in residence at the American Academy in Rome, the Moholy-Nagy Művészeti Egyetem in Budapest and Wedge Projects in Chicago. Christalena is a recipient of a 2018-19 academic year Fulbright Hungary Student Grant, US Department of State Individual Assistance Grant, Grainger Marburg Travel Grant and a Lenore Tawney Foundation Scholarship. She received an MFA from the Fiber & Material Studies Department in 2012 and has been a part time faculty member in this department since 2013. Find her on Instagram at @christalena_hughmanick, @freedom_quilt_hungary, and @some_thing_grand.