Kagen Dunn
Innovation in Image Resident
Kagen Dunn collects items that accumulate in her life through daily routines to record her interactions with the world and the effects it has on her. She collects tangible materials and intangible residues that are left behind after use. In doing so, DunnI captures the feelings of place and time whose expression cannot be expressed in the physical realm. These keepsakes are evidence of existence. Their power sustains the connection between her passing in the world, memories of time and its passing along. She collects materials methodically and mindfully, gradually amassing a collection that reveals its history through wears, stains, and tears. She is interested in materials that are domestic and unremarkable; materials that pervade the day-to-day in such a way that every person can immediately identify them and identify with them, assuming they even notice them at all. These moments, either through performance, subtle changes in how something is meant to be, or the removal of an item, can be quiet but complex. Her practice relies on the acts of attention, mindfulness, and careful observation. Her work exists in the peripherals of the world we notice. It appears mundane and can commonly be overlooked, but the intimacy between the viewer and work becomes more precious upon close-looking. Dunn’s work brings attention to the forgotten elements of our everyday lives and the environments inhabited.
