February 27, 2025
Artist Lecture: 4:30 - 5:30pm
Reception: 5:30 - 7:30pm
UMBILICAL OUROBOROS
recent works by LAUREN FRANCES EVANS
STATEMENT:
What is it to exist in the eternal loop of becoming—an origin and an ending bound together, endlessly repeating? The works in "Umbilical Ouroboros" explore the alchemical vessel of the maternal body and the broader human experience of birth, transformation, and rebirth. Rooted in the metaphor of the umbilical cord as a tether to the divine, these sculptures and images delve into the entanglements that define our connections to ourselves, others, and the ineffable beyond.
Through hands that grasp, pull, and strain—depicted in gestures of both holding and letting go—my work seeks to embody the liminal space between attachment and autonomy, creation and dissolution. These hands, central to so much of my practice, serve as proxies for my own search: scratching at the surface of unseen possibilities, holding tension between presence and absence, and gesturing toward something just out of reach.
At the heart of the exhibition is the ouroboros—the ancient symbol of a snake eating its own tail—reimagined here as an umbilical loop, a line of connection and creation that turns endlessly inward and outward. This cycle, which holds echoes of the Virgin Mary as both mother and sovereign self, suggests the simultaneous autonomy and entanglement of all things. It is the paradox of the maternal: to nurture and release, to create and consume, to belong entirely to oneself while being irrevocably tied to another.
Ultimately, these works explore what it means to dwell in the limbo of becoming, to hold the tensions of opposites, and to begin again, endlessly, in the alchemy of a conscious life.
