The Custom House Studios in Westport are pleased to present The Vanishing Present, a new exhibition by Sarah Stevens which was opened recently and will run until Sunday, February 9. The Vanishing Present is an art project that documents abandoned spaces and their possessions. Artist Sarah Stevens uses photography, sculpture, and drawing to record homes, schools, hotels, train stations, factories, and other empty spaces. These beautiful, decaying museums lie forgotten in every community in Ireland. Some are a consequence of the financial collapse, but many more have been around for longer.
Abandoned spaces contain personal objects. Clocks, photo albums, toothbrushes, religious statues, postcards, and cutlery. These objects tell a story of a person, a way of life and the time in which they were used. They are once-cared for things that remain without purpose long after the owner has left. These abandoned and bereaved objects signify the transitory nature of life. The title for the exhibition, The Vanishing Present, is taken from an article of the same name written by Jane Humphries for Circa magazine.
Sarah Stevens is a visual artist living and working in the north-west of Ireland. In 2004 she obtained a BA (hons ) in fine art from IADT-Dun Laoghaire, followed with an HDip in Art Education from LIT in 2005. She has had three solo exhibitions to date. Derelict Nation (2011 ) and Museum of Abandoned and Bereaved Objects (2012 ) showed at The Model in Sligo.
