COLLAGE ON VIEW
Advanced Wound Healing Techniques
Collage by Robbie Morgan
at Kolaj Institute Gallery in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
16 August-6 October 2024
Opening Reception: 17 August 2024, 6-9PM, Artist & Curator Talk at 7PM
RSVP for the Opening
Bywater Second Saturday Gallery Walk: 14 September 2024, 6-9PM
Made in the months leading up to the artist’s 40th birthday, “Advanced Wound Healing Techniques” is a collection of collage made with personal photographs that were destroyed in a series of fires that took place when artist Robbie Morgan was 24 years old. In the intervening sixteen years, the artist carted around these photographs, moving them from home to home, storing them, occasionally reflecting on them. The collages speak to trauma, destruction, memory and how, as we age, we make sense of things. The artist wrote, “The collective assemblage allowed me to connect to these memories in a way that I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to if I hadn’t made this work.“
The exhibition, “Advanced Wound Healing Techniques”, considers the legacy of photography as physical objects at a time when most photographs exist only as digital ephemera. Curator Ric Kasini Kadour wrote, “Photographs have always been subject to ephemerality. They get destroyed or lost. Some fade. Morgan’s collage of destroyed photographs invites us to consider what visual legacy we are leaving future generations. Technology quickly becomes outdated and in thirty years, we may not be able to access our photographs or pass them on to our children.”
An Opening Reception will take place on 17 August 2024, 6-9PM, with an Artist & Curator Talk at 7PM. The artist will be present at Bywater Second Saturday Gallery Walk on 14 September 2024, 6-9PM.
The exhibition is part of Kolaj Institute’s Photography and Collage Project. In partnership with the New Orleans Photo Alliance, the Photography & Collage project explores the intersection of these two mediums. We ask, What happens when a collagist picks up the camera? What happens when a photographer collages their pictures? Artists at an in-person residency in May 2024 at Kolaj Institute, created artwork that was included in an exhibition at the New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery, 9 June-28 August 2024. Kolaj Institute hosted a virtual residency in July 2024. After the residency, artists are invited to submit artworks that will be considered for an exhibition at Kolaj Institute in December as part of PhotoNOLA 2024, an annual celebration of photography in New Orleans, produced by the New Orleans Photo Alliance in partnership with museums, galleries, and alternative venues citywide.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Robbie Morgan holds an MFA in Film and Theatre Arts with an emphasis in Film Production from The University of New Orleans and a BS in Entertainment Industry with an emphasis in Audio Production from the University of Southern Mississippi. Morgan is interested in the power of visual storytelling and how film can move audiences. He also extensively researches film history and theory. He has taught film in a variety of settings, from school-aged children to university students. He believes anyone with motivation can learn to make a film and use this medium to express ideas. He won awards for Best Picture and Best Editing at the 2021 UNO Film Fest. His research interests include instructional design and pedagogy; Queer film theory; Kuleshov and Gestalt psychology and their role in movies; and applications of practical effects on modern productions. A former adjunct professor of narrative film at Tulane University, Morgan lives and works in New Orleans.
ABOUT KOLAJ INSTITUTE GALLERY
The mission of Kolaj Institute is to support artists, curators, and writers who seek to study, document, and disseminate ideas that deepen our understanding of collage as a medium, a genre, a community, and a 21st century movement. We operate a number of initiatives meant to bring together community, investigate critical issues, and raise collage’s standing in the art world. Kolaj Institute’s Gallery in New Orleans presents exhibitions and connects Kolaj Institute and the artists we work with to the vibrant St. Claude Arts District. We produce 8-10 exhibitions a year and participate in Second Saturday, the neighborhood’s monthly art walk, putting the collage art, books and exhibitions in front of New Orleanians and visitors.
INFORMATION
Kolaj Institute Gallery
Suite 230
2374 Saint Claude Avenue
New Orleans, Louisiana 70117 USA
Hours:
Thursday-Saturday, Noon-6PM
and by appointment