8 Visions • August 2021 • Attleboro Arts Museum
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Statement
My work is inspired by the individual and collective journeys I shared with my late father as he navigated dementia. Caring for him in his final years prompted me to use mixed media and collage to preserve his insightful perspectives and illustrate vignettes of our experiences. A key part of my process is printing onto his paper memorabilia—related to his engineering education and career—using a Gelli plate to create monotypes, which I then incorporate into my work. My compositions are often segmented or constructed as diptychs, reflecting the caregiving dyad, the dueling realities of a fragmented mind, or the space between this world and what lies ahead. Through my process, I play with exposing and camouflaging elements, revealing multiple storylines. This visual exploration fortifies my abstract imagery, providing both direction and purpose, and my multi-step, layered work results in what I call “visual duets.”
Bio
Monica DeSalvo is a Boston-based mixed-media artist and designer with a BFA in Visual Design from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Her work has been featured in juried and invitational exhibitions and several publications. Monica is an artist member of Fountain Street Gallery and TAG The Art Gallery in SoWa Boston. In 2024, she participated in Kolaj Institute's artist residency in Sanquhar, Scotland. Her first solo show, A Bus Tour in the Woods: Visual Duets with Her Father, was in 2023, and she was interviewed for the Dementia Spring Foundation’s Artist Spotlight. Monica will be featured in Curatory Magazine's Issue 4 alongside an interview.