In the multi dimensional installation “Silent Faces/Angkor,” artist Mary Heebner knits together imagery and writing to create an elemental, spiritual, and involving interpretation of the myths of the ancient Angkor temple complex that plays on the links she has found between human and geographic forms. The exhibit is on display at the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies Gallery through May 25.
Heebner often turns to myth to broaden her understanding of the bonds between humans and the earth. When she went to Cambodia’s Angkor temple complex in 2000 and 2001, she began a series she called geography of a face to further her exploration of the connection between human and geographic form.The ancient myth she studied and the eroded faces she read as maps shaped her path to creation of the books, scroll paintings, drawings and texts that make up this installation. Heebner is an internationally known painter, book artist, writer, publisher and installation artist with works in public and private institutions including the Library of Congress, the National Gallery of Art, The British Library, the New York Public Library, The J. P. Getty Research Library and others. (Photos by Ryan Heffernan ’16)
Olivia Drake
Mike Mavredakis
Jeff Harder