For more than a decade, the history, lore, science, and symbolism of the garden has been central to the work of Ebony G. Patterson (previously). In the summer of 2023, Patterson’s installation …things come to thrive…in the shedding…in the molting… at New York Botanical Garden marked an introduction to her series Studies for a vocabulary of loss.

At this weekend’s Armory Show, the artist shares 24 new pieces from the series in a solo presentation exploring the symbolism of gardens and grief.

For Patterson, the garden is a rich metaphor for the body. She often interrogates themes of visibility and invisibility, navigating the intersections of gender, class, and race within the context of postcolonial space. In her paper assemblages, Patterson combines cutouts of foliage, butterflies, and blossoms with plastic insects and mourning rosettes.

“Each piece evokes the imagery of memorial wreaths but with text that diverges from traditional funeral associations,” says a statement from moniquemeloche. “Patterson asks us to grapple with the impossibility of loss, reflecting on an extensive vocabulary centered on words like calamity, forgetting, perdition, misery, wound, lack, failure, blot out, debt, hurt, undoing, and havoc.”

In the context of the garden, the loss and renewal of life are inherent in its natural cycle, and through vibrant and detailed reliefs, Patterson considers the cycle of grief and the potential for life.

If you’re in New York, you can find Patterson’s solo booth on view from September 6 to 8 at the Javits Center. Find more on the artist’s website.