title: violet sky
artist: Meredith Haggerty
materials: easelpad post-it note
dimensions: 24 in x 30 in
location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina, US
This piece, called violet sky, was created for Hello Neighbor. Made to
be viewed from the outside, the cut- out text reads “I made this when
the sky was violet”. The letters appear dark in daylight and are
illuminated by our dining room light at night.
The text is a reflection of my studio practice during the COVID-19
lockdown, namely that with my young daughter at home, my studio time
is brief and limited to early morning when she is asleep. On the other
hand, it is a prompt for those walking past my house to pause and
notice the color of the sky.
“On sunny days, light comes though the piece bringing the text to my walls or floor depending on the time of day. I have begun to play with these shadows to create a series of images that are, so far, meditations on my interior states during the COVID-19 lockdown including quiet, overwhelmed, and solitude."
Meredith Haggerty participates in collaborative art making including site-specific performance and is developing a collage based social-practice series called The Collage Stop. She lives with her husband and daughter in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she attends and offers studio classes and works on writing and collage daily. Follow her on Instagram: @mer.haggerty
More on Meredith Haggerty's practice
Using collage, storytelling, and performance, I explore affinities
between artistic practice and processes in mind-body medicine such as
mindfulness meditation and somatic awareness. I am interested in ways
these vocations allow us to connect to our experience and frame it. I
work with Buddhist teachings, fabulist tradition and somatic
experience as potential avenues to understanding our landscapes,
including those that are difficult, deemed useless and/or internal.
I make illustrations, prompts and manuscripts that are rooted in the
value of becoming familiar with difficult feelings such as loss, fear,
uncertainty, heartbreak and failure. I also facilitate participatory
events rooted in mind-body practice such as contemplative walks, site
specific guided meditations and public collage work spaces. These
events are created with the intention of cultivating a deepened
understanding of our landscapes including spaces and materials that we
take for granted, dislike or even throw away.