Aunna Moriarty
Picking Up the Pieces: A Conversation with Grief
Show Dates: April 1st, 2025 - May 8th, 2025
Artist Talk Date and Time: Tuesday, May 6th at noon
Format (Hybrid/Virtual/In Person): In person
Picking up the Pieces: A Conversation with Grief showcases a collaborative performance and lens-based body of work which serves as a response to the 7 Stages of Grief: Shock, Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Testing, and Acceptance.
The work included in Picking up the Pieces: A Conversation with Grief is part of an on-going, living body of work titled The 7 Stages Grief Project. As I, and my collaborator, Jennifer M. Brown, Seattle-based dancer and textile artist, traded our time in front of and behind the lens, this grouping of 23 photographs and video performance echoes the creation and expansion of psychiatrist Dr. Kubler Ross’s first model of the 5 Stages of Grief which she introduced in 1969: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. Today, various scholars, including Dr. Ross, have since added two additional stages: Shock and Testing. This model can aid in compartmentalizing complex emotions around loss and change.
By performing metaphorical grieving rituals for the camera as both a younger and older body, Jennifer and I signify that grief is universal across time. We may grieve in different ways and the stages may not go in order, but grief is here. There is no timeline for grief. Some stages may last longer than others, and some may repeat. Grief is a becoming. We follow each thread to its source and then trudge back down another and another. It is sentient. It is a continuous spiral up. Sometimes a tornado, more often a pinwheel. Grief knows no bounds. If we surrender to it long enough, the skins we shed grow back new again.
Artist's Biography
Aunna Moriarty is a lens-based artist who works with alternative process and digital photography, bookmaking, performance, set design, and video art. Her art practice is informed by rituals and routines in everyday life, home, and inner realities in contrast to the external world. She plays with the impact of time, color, and scale to explore the dichotomy of interior and exterior spaces and frequently performs in her own work. She has a commercial background in fashion photography and continues to work with independent designers in the greater Seattle area.
Moriarty was born and raised in Washington state and sees herself as a devoted Pacific Northwesterner. She received her BFA in Photography from Seattle University in 2019 and her MFA in Arts Practices from University of Colorado Boulder in 2024, where she was a Lead Graduate Teaching Fellow. She currently teaches at Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle University, and University of Colorado Boulder.
Website: aunnamoriartyphoto.com
Social: @moriartymakingmagic
Helen S. Smith Gallery
The Helen S. Smith Gallery on Green River College's main campus was named in honor of the college Foundation's first President. In addition to being one of the college's founding members, she was known as a strong advocate for the arts in the community.
The gallery is located at the main entrance of the Holman Library, on the Green River College's main campus. It hosts a number of shows each year, featuring the work of students and Northwest artists.
The gallery is currently accepting exhibition proposals.