SMALL DEATHS KATE BREAKEY WOME N & THEIR WORK AUGl! ST 21 - SEPTEMHER 27, 1997 AL: ST ll'\, T EXAS SMALL DEATHS stand, interpret and emphasize life itself. murals and paintings of previous eras into Look! Look! If you look really hard at nineteenth century photograpl1y was seem­ things you'llforget you're going to die. ingly effortless, and the medium was easily adapted by such early masters as William In our way, we conform as best -Montgomery Clift we can to the rest of nature ... There are 3 Lal~e Price and Adolphe Braun among Throughout its l1istory photography billion of us on the earth, and all 3 billion many others. lndeecl, the depiction and has never shied away from death. Whether must be dead, on a schedule, within this interpretation of death' s presence-whether tl1nmgl1 early daguerrean funeray portraits, lifetime. The vast mortality, involving some­ for documentary, expressive or aesthetic the pictorialist acceptance of classic sub­ thing over 50 million of us each year, takes purpose-will continue to survive present jects libe cemeteries, or the often grapl1ic place in relative secrecy .... and future generations. Something there documentation of war, tl1e evidence and Less than a half century from is in the face of our final fate which impels impact of life's end has continued to now, our replacements will have more than us to aim the eye and the camera directly contribute to our visual J1eritage. In one doubled the numbers. It is hard to see how towards the evidence of our end. sense Kate Breakey's "small deaths" have we can continue to keep the secret, with tl1eir roots going all tl1e way bacl~ to tl1e All of which is not necessarily an such multitudes doing the dying. We will nature morte traditions in classical art­ easy effort for us viewers: to be able to see have to give up the notion that death is tlwse "stilllifes" of dead animals, birds into and beyond the gore and decay and catastrophe, or detestable, or avoidable, and plants arranged in aesthetic manners smells that await us all when that ultimate or even strange. We will need to learn more and offered up in memorial and/or sparb J1as been extinguisl1ed. It is not about the cycling of life in the rest of the celebratory fashion. The transition from difficult to see how many of us would system, and about our connection to the process. Everything that comes alive seems to be in trade for something that dies, cell for cell. There might be some comfort in the recognition of synchrony, in the formation that we all go down together, in the best of company. -Lewis Thomas. "Death in the Open." et's get the necessary informahon L out of the way first: no creature has been hurt or billed for the purpose of this exhibition. But, their method of final transition- be it disease or age, predator or J1appenstance-l1as been only tl1e next step in the natural transit from "birth to earth" that each of Kate Breal~ey' s subjects (not to menhon all us remaining beings) must follow. For Kate's reverence is towards nature in general and, therefore, towards life in particular. The dead things that she finds or has been given by friends-be they plant, fowl, reptile or mammal-possess a fundamental spirit beyond the shell that is left bel1ind. Her practice may be to collect and examine these "small deaths" but her desire is that of any other passionate naturalist and artist: to attempt to under- Hemhlaturcicus, ~·L:dil t:rr.uwa n Gt.·~ko. SilvL'r G~lutin Pholograp\1 \Jundcolorccl witl1 o ils & pen ~ il s 32"x32" 1996 embrace the old Woody Allen wish-"1' m since they have evolved from that most of them living entities, holding a bearing not afraid to die; I just don't want to be fundamental of contrasts-life and and pose referential to such figures as there when it happens." Mortality remains death-they deserve the benefit of both generals, grand dames and Indian chiefs a rather severe companion for us all­ our considerations and our feelings. from a forgotten era. Or, consider tlte ever-present, never entirely welcome, and Some of the opposites are obvious. childlike torsos or genteel hands of the tiny as inevitable as the fall of each sparrow Plants vs. animals. Insects vs. vertebrates. lizards. Even certain flowers possess the and the dessication of each flower. Mammals vs. birds. Even their physical aged textures of our grandparents' cheebs I brought home the bleached bones as my states and bodily conditions are not and the bent of heads and shoulder symbols of the desert. To me they are as uniform. Some prints have a dark moody stooped with an accumulation of years beautiful as anything I know. To me they cast while others are lively and bright. Or, and experience. Has life truly transpired some of the subjects appear wholly are strangely more living than the animals lifelil~e with such smaii deaths, or has it only while others have corrupted down to bone walking around--hair, eyes, and all with been replaced by anotl1er that is far more and baser substance. their tails switching. The bones seem to cut mysterious and wondrous? sharply to the center of something that is There is also the contrast of the One final contradiction: the French keenly alive on the desert even tho' it is vast artist's execution. The prints before you have a phrase for that climactic moment of and empty and untouchable--and knows no are very large, their scale in dramatic sexual orgasm. It is called fa petite morte­ kindness with all its beauty. opposition to the natural size and seeming "the little death"-and it celebrates that -Georgia O'Keeffe. "About Myself." "small" unimportance of their subjects. Or, consider the range of Kate's colorings human instance of life-affirmation and The "Small Deaths" are not Kate's :-the gray sparrow or the pale rose lad~ life-creation in which body and soul feel first foray into beginnings and endings. the vibrant hues of other birds or bulbs, both the highest ecstacy and also the closest Starting from her childhood in rural yet each possesses, through her hand­ to the physiological instance of death. Are Australia-a frontier one suspects that is applied oils, an approximation of nature's life and death so intertwined? And can little different from its Texas counterpart­ own hues which further adds to our even the smallest passing of the smallest she was no stranger to Nature's continual appreciation of the transitory beauty of organism contain within itself the ceaseless balancing act between creation and finality. each of these passed lives. affirmation to life? While death and mortality may exist Even the fundamentalism of the equally in city or wilderness, tl1ey are I have never asl~ed Kate if she her­ written title on each print lies in contrast certainly more focussed and unremitting self fears death. It is sufficient for me to to the artist's passion. The taxonomy of in the countryside. lmow that she respects it and sees through scientific and popular names, which Kate it. That she can share this power with us is In addition, they have continued to the scientist has researched and written, is the true beauty of her art. And that we be active components of her artistic growth a component part of nature. However, if possess within our intellect and emotions and influence. For nearly a decade now she the naming process somehow reinforces the potential to respond to the eloquence, has explored these fragile borderlands the illustrative or factual reference of each mystery and romance of her art is the through at least three other series­ creature, it also enhances the poetry­ "Death," "Remains" and "Vital Organs"­ indeed, the majesty-wl1ich Kate the artist measure of the humanity in us all. whicb, in true artistic fashion, still continue. has brought to her subjects. Perhaps this is Kate's art is fundamentally an Indeed, one might find one more certain the great contradiction which lies within encouragement: "Lool~. Do not look away. example her own affirmation to life in the of the soul of each true naturalist. See that therein lies beauty. See that there simple fact that none of these series have Cumulatively, of course, there is the is life." been permitted to die. essential contrast within each image Therein also lies the grace, dignity and Perhaps the strong heart of Kate's itself-that between object and symbol, passion. And just a whisper of our eternity. "Small Deaths" is the seemingly endless between what is recorded and what may be contradictions which abound throughout seen. Some of these birds are of parts ROY FLUKINGER them. they have grown equally from As and fragments, with slwlls that remind us Senior Curator of Photography and Film both her desire and her reverence this may of dinosaurs or alien fantasies. Others, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center not seem so surprising to us. However, however, possess a presence that mal~es The University of Texas at Austin n Roy f lub,,,.,, 1997 KATE BREAKEY 1957 Born Adelaid e, South Australia EDUCATION 1989-91 \IFA. Univer-s ity of Texas at. Austin 1979-82 BF~'\. School of Art. Univer~ity ol South Australia 1975-78 Dip. Graphic Design. South Australia School or Art INDI\'IDUAL EXHIBITIONS 1997 ·small Deaths.' Wom en & Their Work. Austin. Texas 1994 'Laws of Physics- Principles of Mathematics.' New Zealancl International Festival of Arts.\Vellington.