JAMIAS VU :: Langdon Graves

February 27, 2016

Jamias vu, a French expression meaning “never seen,” is a psychological phenomenon akin to déjà vu whereby a common-place or recognizable situation suddenly feels unfamiliar. Through the artwork in the exhibition, Graves investigates this phenomenon in the context of a personal childhood experience.

The works in the exhibition feature domestic imagery culled from Graves’ memory of her grandmother’s house and coupled with scenes of the ghost story formed by her childhood imagination. “Like the way one remembers a dream, the pictures and objects are incomplete and not fully belonging to their context; they offer stand-ins of the familiar and impressions rather than distinct representations,” Graves continues. “The real ghost is the story itself, slipping in and out of my periphery over the years, haunting my memory and inciting me to see things that aren’t there.”