Paper Medium: Roma Devanbu

The meaningful and complex relationships that we have with the objects which fill our homes has been a recurring theme in Roma Devanbu’s work for many years. Months of following strict shelter-at-home protocols have further focused Devanbu’s attention on the domestic devices that serve as mediums of vital connection to the people, places and things beyond the constraints of our physical locations.

This new body of work includes numerous interpretations of the tech-magic video meetings that have come to dominate our days.  Other works feature objects such as heirlooms and meteorites which link us to places of origin both personal and universal. Several pieces reference the hand tatted doilies of Devanbu’s great grandmothers, Mither and Big Jo.  Big Jo, was understood to be a trance medium, with the ability to communicate with souls in other realms. She was the inspiration for the interactive piece Electronic Medium.

Roma Devanbu has been using paper as a fine art medium for decades. The works in her “Paper Medium” exhibition (all on or made out of paper) reference folk and domestic art traditions, such as the playful and intricate Scherenschnitte (scissor cut) pieces of Hans Christian Anderson and the cool austerity of early American silhouette portraiture.  The works in this show are both poignant and funny, odd and affirming.

Click here for the virtual museum.