In These Times, pas de deux, 2020
I am immersed in mourning research. In 2016, my husband and my father died within ten days of each other, marking a profound turning point in my life and practice. My grief led me to seek new forms and ways of working. I moved away from abstract painting and began constructing labor and time-intensive objects as a form of meditation. My studio became a recovery room. These new methods offered stimulating ways to engage time, ritual, and the body directly.
Working across media, my work is a visceral response to grief. The complex emotions that accompany loss are the material that shapes my aesthetic direction and provides context to imaginings of unknown spaces before life and after death. Grief shifts and returns in layers, its textures and rhythms demanding space in my body. In a meditative process that allows the world's noise to dissipate, I focus on the work's essential qualities. The isolated and spare visual results create an intimate connection to the work and serve as a reminder that this moment is all there is.
Intentional movement, such as Butoh, which uses visual imagery to inspire bodily movement, and tactile materials, such as fabric and elastic threads, were central. Leavings, leftover or found objects that were once significant to their owner and symbolic of a life, are encased in yards of thread or plaster until they fade within the structure. The resulting objects are utilized in installations, frequently accompanied by projections and sound elements. The intention is to create an experience that elicits an emotional response, prompting viewers to pause and reflect. The conceptual underpinnings embrace the absence of the living.
After millions have lost friends and family through pandemic-related illness, ceaseless wars, everyday violence, and an ever-worsening climate crisis, grief is common ground. We mourn globally and collectively, making our connection with the earth and each other more poignant. Through my research, I have discovered that grief is not a problem to be solved but a sacred art and spiritual practice fundamental to my creative process. Grieving is loving and within this lives curiosity and wonder.
Connie Noyes, b. Washington, D.C. received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and attended Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California, where she received an MA in psychology and art therapy..Her work is informed by her training as a death doula and her studies in Butoh, which shape her approach to embodiment, ritual, and presence.
She is a recipient of the Cabins Haystack Residency Fellowship in Norfolk, CT, as well as two artist grants from the City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs. Noyes has exhibited in cities worldwide, including Paris, Innsbruck, Munich, Dubai, and Bangi. She gained international recognition through her affiliation with Salwa Zeidan Gallery in the UAE, participating in Art Abu Dhabi and Art Bahrain, and was invited to the Biennale Internationale d'Art non-objectif in Pont-de-Claix, Grenoble. In the United States, she worked with sound artist Beth Bradfish and Harvestworks, on Governors Island, New York, for a project titled "Untied|United, and has had solo shows at the Evanston Art Center in Evanston, IL, "we are built in water" and at Wedge Projects in Chicago, IL. "A(mend)ed". Her "Under the Freeway" project was featured during Chicago Artists Month as part of "The City as Studio.” She was part of a group exhibition, "Not a Soft Thing", an Exhibition about Artist/Mothers, at the Chicago Cultural Center. In addition, Noyes has participated in various international residencies, including the TransArt summer program in Berlin, Germany; Arteles in Finland; CAMP in France; ChaNorth in New York; Emaar International Art Symposium in Dubai, UAE; and the Thupelo International Workshop in Cape Town South Africa. Her work is in numerous collections, including The Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, Illinois; The Ekstrom Library of Photographic Archives Special Collections in Louisville, Kentucky; Rhode Island School of Design; and the Greenville County Museum in South Carolina. She lives and works in Chicago.