12 Hour Imprint, Morgan Abenhaim
Two of two portraits layered with veils of subtle moments, fractures of time, sense of identity and the fleeting in betweens. deep blues, greens, whites, black and purples painted with thin colour washes, intertwined lineworks utilized to showcase a fragmented mindscape. Mourning a past self while desperately seeking to understand and identify the version that exists currently.
Title: 12 Hour Imprint
Artist: Morgan Abenhaim
Date: 2016
Medium/Materials: Oil on Panel
Dimensions: 91.44 cm x 121.92 cm
Form/Genre: Self-portrait, painting
Key Terms/Subject/Tags: Resilience; Memory; Identity; Time
Artist Statement:
Canadian artist Morgan Abenhaim ( b.1989, Toronto) conceptually explores ideas around identity and connection through psychologically layered portraiture. These works document the navigation of a series of concussions. Acting as both a vehicle and mirror exploring the intertwining of internal and external perceptions on the path of healing. Finding solace and grounding in fleeting moments while navigating coexisting division between internal and external realms of perception, memory, and time reinterpreted.
Reflecting on the inner and outer realms that exist simultaneously. Fractured cognition, memory, and emotional regulation largely unseen externally. Fragmented faces overlap and dissolve into one another, reflecting the uncertain instability of memory and the dissonance between how one appears and how one feels. Moments blur, split, and echo. Mirroring the experience of existing in a suspended state where time oscillates between stretching and collapsing. Where a sense of familiar self feels both present and like a distant dream clinging to the walls of the mind upon waking. Cool tonalities and translucent veils evoke the fog of neurological trauma: a landscape of fleeting in-betweens, interrupted thoughts, and the desperate attempt to grasp onto anything that resembles the remnants of who one was prior.
Perceived externally as erratic, moody, or unregulated, the work challenges assumptions surrounding invisible injury. Beneath the surface lies an unseen battle of retracing steps as an attempt of rebuilding, rediscovering grounding, retraining cognition, and reconstructing a sense of coherence. The layered distortions represent the duality that exists mourning the versions of ourselves that we lost while working to repair and rediscover who we are now. A map of neuroplasticity in motion.
Through documenting this process, Abenhaim finds a mirror to observe, speculate, reflect and analyze her journey. The paintings do not seek to resolve the deconstruction of identity that took place but rather to honor it. Hold space for the multiple selves that coexist while healing. Through these fractured yet tender portraits, the work reframes invisibility as presence and instability as a profound act of endurance.
Cultural Context / Story Behind the Work:
Created while Abenhaim was navigating a concussion.
Rights for this Image:
This digital image is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. You are free to share it for non-commercial purposes, as long as you credit the artist.
Learn More:
Instagram: @morganabenhaim