Ashley Czajkowski’s “In Memoriam” Series to be Showcased at Spectra Art Gallery
August 9, 2024 - Anna Abeyta
Spectra Gallery, housed in the Honors College at The University of New Mexico, is hosting an art exhibition titled "In Memoriam" by acclaimed image-based artist and educator Ashley Czajkowski. The exhibition, part of the Honors Forum, will be on display from August 12 to December 13. It will be open to the public Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM, excluding holidays.
"In Memoriam," an ongoing project since 2016, combines lumen prints with found bird bodies, hand-coated photo emulsion on fabric, and embroidery hoops. Czajkowski’s work navigates the intricate intersection of domestic and wild elements, honoring non-human animals and exploring the collective healing that arises through art-making and mourning. The series gained new dimensions in 2021 through collaboration with artists Kit Abate, Lindsay Arnold, Rachel Brace-Stille, Monica Garcia, Ella Inderieden, Sophia McGovern, and Kelsey Pinckney, who contributed embroidered elements to the prints in a Sewing Circle/Death Salon setting.
Ashley Czajkowski is an image-based artist and educator working in several interdisciplinary methods. Driven by personal experience, her research explores social constructions related to femininity, mortality and the psychological manifestation of, and the human-animal. Though situated in photography, Czajkowski's practice also incorporates video, installation, performance, and alternative and historic print processes, pushing the expected boundaries of the photographic art medium.
Czajkowski achieved her Bachelor of Fine Art in 2009 from Emporia State University in Kansas and earned her Master of Fine Art in photography in 2015 from Arizona State University. Czajkowski’s work has been exhibited and published widely, most recently included in becoming-Feral, a book of poetry, essay, and art investigating human/other-animal relationships. Currently in Mesa, Arizona, Czajkowski is invested in her local art community and has served as the sound technician and story editor for the Creative Push Project, the Curator of Special Projects for Tilt Gallery, the President of eye lounge artist collective, and was the recipient of the inaugural TAFF Award from Phoenix Artlink in 2017. As an educator, she assists with Mortem, a research residency for Ayatana’s Biophilia Wild School for Artists based in Canada. Czajkowski is also an Assistant Teaching Professor for the Digital Photography online program at ASU, where she developed a course on Death and Photography in tandem with a biannual exhibition, she curates titled Memento Mori.
The Spectra Art Gallery, known for highlighting the creative works of honors students and alums, also hosts annual solo shows featuring contemporary artists. Artistic selections for the gallery are made by a team of UNM faculty members from the Honors College and the Art Department. The gallery serves as a vibrant platform for both emerging and established artists, enriching the cultural landscape with its diverse exhibitions.
For more information on the "In Memoriam" exhibition and to view the series, please visit Ashley Czajkowski's website.
