The History of Forgetting
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