Tracey Morgan Gallery is pleased to present Compassion & Cannibalism: A Spiritual Guide To Recycling, a project gallery installation by artist and poet Ted Pope. The artist will stage a public performance, prior to the opening reception, June 3rd from 5:30pm - 6pm.
In this exhibition, Pope employs recycled, everyday materials to transform the gallery’s project space into an immersive, interactive installation. Included are several small, hand embellished boxes displayed in a large cabinet, a wall of repurposed soup cans, a paper octopus, and a large scale suspended drawing. The artist pulls his inspiration and nourishment from using materials which would otherwise be discarded in a process he refers to as “Compassionate Cannibalism.”
Included in the installation is A Wailing Wall/Western Wall of Recycled Soup Cans, comprised of numerous cans each containing poems and prayers written by the artist. The public are encouraged to take any particular prayer or poem that inspires them and will be provided with materials to create their own prayer or poem to leave for the artist, or perhaps another patron, thus encouraging a dialog not only between the artist and patrons but also between the patrons. With this act, Pope hopes visitors may discover a lifelong mantra, or even better, a lifelong friend.
Ted Pope is a regular contributor to the annual Black Mountain College conference, co-hosted by the Black Mountain College Museum + Art Center and UNC Asheville. His work was included in the 2019 exhibition Appalachia Now! at the Asheville Art Museum, curated by Jason Andrew. His poems have been widely published and performed. He lives and creates his work reclusively in the Catawba River Valley in Western North Carolina.
