Paloma Barhaugh Bordas

→ Current Projects
→ Four (2023)
→ Thicker Than Forget (2021)
→ Understory (2019)
→ Arbor ∞ Ardor (2019)
→ TransPlant (2018)
→ Two and a Half Seasons (2017)
→ Torn Treatise Landscapes
→ Flags Bags Quilts Patches
→ Drawings, nets and plants
→ Cyano-Tees

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→ Bio & CV

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Thicker Than Forget

Work included in Thicker Than Forget explores the transitional points between realms: the boundary at the horizon where land and sea cusp, the peripheral edge of mono/binocular vision, the moment when, walking at night, imperceptible darkness becomes a spectrum. This work tests the possibilities of vision when perception is limited and centers the viewer in this realm, where the warp and haze are the focus. Working with printmaking, photography, and painting, her work also explores the transformation of blank space and materials into pattern and space, and the alchemical kiss of paper and plate as they are pushed through a press. As we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, reorganizing our interpersonal relationships in favor of safety, Barhaugh-Bordas’s work wedges the viewer into the uninterrupted conversations between plants, land, and the vast and imperceptible networks growing around us.
- Curatorial statement by Mara Baldwin, 2021

Thicker Than Forget, solo exhibition at the Handwerker Gallery in Ithaca, NY. September 2-October 13, 2021

First Is Land, 2021
Silkscreen mounted on fabric
204 x 22

Wedge, 2021 | 22 x 30 | Watercolor
If it’s Up, 2021 | 22 x 30 | Watercolor
Thickest, 2021 | 22 x 30 | Watercolor

Left, Bitterstices, 2021 | 6 @ 18 x 24 | Silkscreen
Center, Quilt Aperture | 68 x 68 | Dye sublimation on mesh, cyanotype of cotton, polyester thread
Right, Before, 2021 | 6 @ 18 x 24 | Silkscreen

Two columns of asymmetrical silkscreen prints were the starting point for this body of work. The series applies a queer lense to themes of repetition, reproduction, and sameness in nature. In three layers of transparent ink, minute ruptures in symmetry unhinge the nearly-reflective prints.

Various small sculptures were installed on an industrial shelf. Including pit-fired clay pots with impressed invasive species, and wrapped sticks and stones.

Before, 2021 | 6 @ 18 x 24 | Silkscreen

Tree Shrouds, 2021 | 9 @ 20 x 20 | Monoprint on indigo-dyed muslin

Interspersed between windows that look out onto a manicured park, I draped indigo-dyed handkerchiefs with the monoprinted impression of tree bark. In a gradation of color, the trees represented are all native to the region in which they were displayed. These trees now share their ecosystem with introduced species such as those beyond the windows. By invoking both the retro queer code of “flagging,” and a protective shroud, the kerchiefs become a gesture of longing and affection for native trees.

Such Woods, 2021 | 22 x 30 | Watercolor

Flagging for Trees (Quaking Aspen), 2021
20 x 20, set of 9
Monoprints on hand-dyed indigo kerchiefs