EPIPHANY COUCH
  • portfolio
    • How to Hold Yourself in the High Country
    • Comes From the Land
    • A Dream of Another’s Dream
    • Huckleberry and Chokecherry Sister
    • In Winter We Tell Stories. In Summer We Savor the Sun.
    • Strong Spirits
    • Before the Fire Lit My Dreams
    • Burdened with More Beautiful Things
    • the history of forgetting >
      • The History of Forgetting Video
    • strange and beautiful things
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The History of Forgetting

"Legacy" (2022) Collage, oak gall ink and glass beadwork on giclée inkjet print. 16 x 16 inches
Detail: "Legacy" (2022) Collage, oak gall ink and glass beadwork on giclée inkjet print. 16 x 16 inches
Detail: "Legacy" (2022) Collage, oak gall ink and glass beadwork on giclée inkjet print. 16 x 16 inches
"Buried by White Ways" (2022) Linen cloth, bookboard, satin, buckskin, paper, linen thread, beaver wood, glass beads and paper doily. 23 x 10.5 x 23 inches
"Buried by White Ways" (2022) Linen cloth, bookboard, satin, buckskin, paper, linen thread, beaver wood, glass beads and paper doily. 23 x 10.5 x 3 inches
"Buried by White Ways" (2022) Linen cloth, bookboard, satin, buckskin, paper, linen thread, beaver wood, glass beads and paper doily. 23 x 10.5 x 3 inches
"Buried by White Ways" (2022) Linen cloth, bookboard, satin, buckskin, paper, linen thread, beaver wood, glass beads and paper doily. 23 x 10.5 x 3 inches
"Buried by White Ways" (2022) Linen cloth, bookboard, satin, buckskin, paper, linen thread, beaver wood, glass beads and paper doily. 23 x 10.5 x 3 inches
"Ways of Knowing" (2023) Satin cloth, vellum, book board, glass beads, paper doily, shells, waxed linen thread, and ink. 16 x 16 inches
Detail: "Ways of Knowing" (2023) Satin cloth, vellum, book board, glass beads, paper doily, shells, waxed linen thread, and ink. 16 x 16 inches
"The History of Forgetting" (2020) Collage, vellum, linen thread, wood, and hair. 7 x 4.5 x 2.25 inches
"The History of Forgetting" (2020) Collage, vellum, linen thread, wood, and hair. 7 x 4.5 x 2.25 inches
Back: "The History of Forgetting" (2020) Collage, vellum, linen thread, wood, and hair. 7 x 4.5 x 2.25 inches
Inside detail: "The History of Forgetting" (2020) Collage, vellum, linen thread, wood, and hair. 7 x 4.5 x 2.25 inches
"Ancestral Memory" (2023) Collage, oak gall ink and glass beadwork on giclée inkjet print. 16 x 16 inches
"Ringleader of Disorder" (2021) Paper, rawhide, leather, and metal. 10.5 x 15 x 1 inches
Inside: "Ringleader of Disorder" (2021) Paper, rawhide, leather, and metal. 10.5 x 15 x 1 inches
Inside: "Ringleader of Disorder" (2021) Paper, rawhide, leather, and metal. 10.5 x 15 x 1 inches
Paper detail: "Ringleader of Disorder" (2021) Paper, rawhide, leather, and metal. 10.5 x 15 x 1 inches
Paper detail: "Ringleader of Disorder" (2021) Paper, rawhide, leather, and metal. 10.5 x 15 x 1 inches
"The Stars I Followed to Get Here" (2022) Watercolor, oak gall ink, linen thread, and glass beads on watercolor paper, 47" x 77" x 1"
"The Princess of the Dalles" from the series "The Stars I Followed to Get Here" (2022) Watercolor, oak gall ink, linen thread, and glass beads on watercolor paper, 15 x 11 inches
"The Runaway" from the series "The Stars I Followed to Get Here" (2022) Watercolor, oak gall ink, linen thread, and glass beads on watercolor paper, 15 x 11 inches
"The One Who Defied Death" from the series "The Stars I Followed to Get Here" (2022) Watercolor, oak gall ink, linen thread, and glass beads on watercolor paper, 15 x 11 inches
"The Bear Hunter" from the series "The Stars I Followed to Get Here" (2022) Watercolor, oak gall ink, linen thread, and glass beads on watercolor paper, 15 x 11 inches
"I raise my hands (to you) / ʔəsbutbutlačibid čəd," from the series "Offerings" (2023) Vellum photoprints, glass beads, Salish Sea driftwood, the artist's hair, oak gall ink, and archival giclée inkjet prints on birch panel, 12” x 12” x 1 ⅝”
"Patty is my grandmother's name / Patty tsi sdaʔ ʔə tsi dkayəʔ" from the series "Offerings" (2023) Vellum photoprints, glass beads, Salish Sea driftwood, the artist's hair, oak gall ink, and archival giclée inkjet prints on birch panel, 12” x 12” x 1 ⅝”
"John is my grandfather's name / John ti sdaʔ ʔə ti dscapaʔ" from the series "Offerings" (2023) Vellum photoprints, glass beads, Salish Sea driftwood, the artist's hair, oak gall ink, and archival giclée inkjet prints on birch panel, 12” x 12” x 1 ⅝”
"I forget / ​​ʔubaliic čəd" from the series "Offerings" (2023) Vellum photoprints, glass beads, Salish Sea driftwood, the artist's hair, oak gall ink, and archival giclée inkjet prints on birch panel, 12” x 12” x 1 ⅝”

The History of Forgetting (2020-2023) , Epiphany Couch's debut solo exhibition at Carnation Contemporary, is an exploration of ancestral knowledge and the complicated nature of memory. Through an intimate collection of assemblage, film photography, and unconventional artists’ books, Couch examines how we can emerge from a place of forgetting into one of remembering, honoring, and mending. Utilizing family stories, her own dreams, and materials found in family, tribal, and institutional archives, Couch creates a world of memorialization where the pain of things once lost is carefully held, acknowledged, and transformed.
In the work Ringleader of Disorder Couch shares the story of her great grandfather’s spirited resistance at Chemawa Indian School through reproductions of records sourced from the National Archives. These letters, report cards, and disciplinary write-ups are kept in a sparse rawhide parfleche (or Indian suitcase) as a way to honor and reclaim these painful yet precious pieces of her ancestral past.
Couch’s love for her ancestors, even the most complicated of them, can be seen intimately in The Stars I Followed to Get Here. Installed in a family tree orientation, these imagined constellations chart the life paths of nine of her ancestors. Part map and part story, this work stands as a reminder of how our ancestors influence us, both pulling us back and guiding us forward.
​

Documentation Photography by: Mario Gallucci, Epiphany Couch, and Jim Couch
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  • portfolio
    • How to Hold Yourself in the High Country
    • Comes From the Land
    • A Dream of Another’s Dream
    • Huckleberry and Chokecherry Sister
    • In Winter We Tell Stories. In Summer We Savor the Sun.
    • Strong Spirits
    • Before the Fire Lit My Dreams
    • Burdened with More Beautiful Things
    • the history of forgetting >
      • The History of Forgetting Video
    • strange and beautiful things
  • about
  • CV
  • NEWS
  • WRITING
  • contact