Judith G. Levy's art deals with themes of memory, exploring the fleeting nature of individual experience, the similarities and differences between collective and personal acts of remembering, and how memories can be explicit or elusive. The installation is composed of a monumental "cloud" made from white plastic photo viewers that hang on strands of metal chain. The viewers are designed to be held up to the light to reveal an image inside. Each of the plastic viewers contains a unique photograph, drawn from a collection of thousands of found 35mm slides that the artist has collected over the years throughout the Midwest. These photographs capture people posing for family snapshots, attending holiday events, working, enjoying vacations, or simply observing the world around them. In some areas, these viewers are hung out of reach - suggesting a metaphor for experiences or memories that can not be retrieved - while in other areas they are hung at a height that is accessible to visitors so that they can have the personal experience of peering through the viewers at these familiar yet mysterious images.

Levy is an artist based in Kansas, who until recently lived and worked in Indianapolis. Her work incorporates a variety of mediums, including drawing, sculpture, video and performance. Levy's installation in the Efroymson Family Pavilion is her first major solo museum exhibition, and features a work specially commissioned for the IMA.

Support provided by a grant from The Efroymson Family Fund, A CICF Fund.

Selected image from Judith G. Levy's Memory Cloud, photograph courtesy of artist.