BARTON, Nancy and GIL, Alexander

C-Print

16 x20"

In Freudianism mourning allows an individual to fully divest themselves of the burden of grief and accompanying anxiety, allowing an individual to move on and fully embrace new experiences and people. In his writings, Rickels makes the case that the population of California suffers from an inability to mourn or even acknowledge death, which he refers to as “unmourning.” Unmourning is an important concept in both Rickels’ and artist Nancy Barton’s work. In a catalog essay Rickels writes about this work, part of an installation, stating that it “excavates a séance showdown between double aspects and agents of unmourning.”

1994

BARTON, Nancy and GIL, Alexander

United States, b. 1957

Gift of Laurence A. Rickels

2011.004.011