Overwhelming presence of absence in Denver artist's newest work, "Precarity"

Oct. 8—Precarity is inevitable.

It's personified in the way we behave, interact with one another, view ourselves and conduct our small social circles — at least that was the inspiration for Denver-based artist Laura Shill's newest installment, which will run through Oct. 28 in the Clay Fine Art Gallery at Laramie County Community College.

Disembodied feet fill the relatively small space, some suspended by pantyhose, along with a particularly grabbing display of quartered legs disappearing in increments as they ascend bedposts against the westernmost wall. It is a collective display of unbalance, frailty and, ultimately, insecurity.

"That's kind of the definition of the human condition, right?" Shill said in the gallery on Wednesday afternoon. "The fact that we live on a tiny rock that's floating in an ever-expanding universe is pretty precarious on its own.

"Then, we live in a time where it's just crisis after crisis layered on — so, all of these materials (in the exhibit) are sort of kept in a state of tension."

Shill is a person who is constantly thinking — thinking about the world around her, the space she occupies within the desperate mess, and how she can reflect those thoughts in her artwork. In that sense, tackling a theme as it's displayed in "Precarity" isn't outside the box for her.

Whether she's creating interactive work for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver or setting up a DIY space in her apartment, as she did early on in her career, the theme of loneliness permeates throughout her body of work. Her installations frequently incorporate a lack of self — an absence — and display how that lack of self is interacted with and interpreted by the viewing eye.

The theme of every one of her works can be traced back to her thesis in graduate school, a defining moment that's obscure and disquieting imagery inspired what has now been more than a decade of various installations.

Later in the afternoon, Shill took the stage in the Surbrugg/Prentice Auditorium to a group of about 20 participants, many of them students attending her talk in place of their typical Wednesday lecture. Shill gave a brief overview of her professional trajectory, revealing that, initially, she was not pursuing a physical artistic medium, but rather, photography.

"I was motivated by a fear of loss, so I would photograph people and things that I was afraid of losing," she told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle before the presentation. "The thing that we do to resist our own impermanence is to document and record the moment."

While clicking through slides of the black-and-white portraiture she compiled in her home state of Alabama, she transitioned into much older tintype portraits, also black and white, of Victorian-era children.

The children aren't the true focus of these photographs for Shill, but instead the mysterious figures they're placed upon. This was the keystone of her thesis, titled "Hidden Mothers."

During the presentation, Shill explained that tintype photograph collectors, herself included, began peeling back the frames of old photographs to reveal hundreds of pictures similar to the one pictured here — mothers shrouded beneath cloth, ducked behind their child or their faces even scratched out after the photo was taken.

To her knowledge, Shill's graduate thesis was the first extensive compilation of research and material surrounding the subject.

"Perhaps we should read her veiled figure as the potential specter of death always hovering nearby, or maybe an image of a postpartum renegotiation of identity," she said during the presentation. "These are images of women performing care invisibly, while being erased from their own family albums.

"Although I published this research a decade ago, the presence of absence and these images sparked for me a series of ongoing questions that I continue to explore across various media."

Since this discovery, Shill has explored the versatile idea of absence through different mediums, from her "Absent Lovers" print series to "Separation Prevented," each of which attempts to convey the concept of either intimate or social isolation by way of failure to generate a connection through social media or unrealistic expectations toward a partner.

Visit her website, www.lauraleeshill.com, for a full look at her projects prior to visiting the Clay Fine Art Gallery. It will provide better context for how "Precarity" fits into her greater portfolio.

Early on, Shill was inviting new neighbors into her apartment, where they agreed to dress in transformative outfits that hid their features. These series, like "Shrubs" and "Untitled Performances," were her first attempt at these themes.

Hidden amid the odd outfits and settings of both "Shrubs" and "Untitled," there is one pose replicated by a male figure — that of the "Hidden Mother."

The same form is to be found in "Precarity."

Aesthetically and tonally, the installation is a clear successor to her already established artistic style, but perhaps no other project creates such feelings of isolation and instability as this piece.

"They're all partial forms. They don't have full personhood or any sort of bodily autonomy," Shill said. "They're suspended in place. Some of them appear as though they'd like to walk or run away, but they're unable to.

"They're under the constant weight of gravity — it's sort of the inevitability of being dragged to the ground, though you're trying to remain suspended."

Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_.