Exhibition Statement by Falcon Laina

Two years ago, in a time of upheaval in my personal life, I began having thematically cohesive dreams. I noticed the same characters returning night after night, and imagery which felt strangely specific and meaningful. I began to think of these images as my companions, and these characters as vessels which could serve as a sculptural body to my emotions. The central sculpture in this project is a hollow ceramic marionette suspended from a steel frame. This body is vulnerable in its capacity to be a container as well as its reliance on an external support structure. Genres and formats, the packaging and repackaging of information in order to aid communication and understanding forms a central interest to me as a transgender person. Combining indexical and non-indexical media, the archive consists of silver gelatin prints, drawings, and found objects which document the story of one person’s complex inner world.