“Covid, 9/11 Grief Gives Resonance to ‘This Mortal Coil’ at Zuckerman Museum”

“Covid, 9/11 Grief Gives Resonance to ‘This Mortal Coil’ at Zuckerman Museum”

by Deanna Sirlin | ARTS ATL and Atlanta Journal Constitution
September 21, 2021

This Mortal Coil, curated by Cynthia Nourse Thompson at Kennesaw State University’s Zuckerman Museum (on view until December 11) is a tender look at the fragility of the physical body through depictions of grief by 17 artists. The title of the exhibition is a quote from Hamlet: “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come/When we have shuffled off this mortal coil/Must give us pause.” Shakespeare skillfully addresses the ambivalence inherent in the idea of human mortality. Perhaps the Shakespearean image that comes most readily to mind is that of Hamlet contemplating a human skull, in deep thought about the meaning of life on earth.

Is there new territory to be mined in this exhibition? Are there existential questions we need to revisit at this pandemic moment? Gertrude Stein, on her deathbed, asked her lover: “What is the answer?” and when no response was given, she asked: “What is the question?” What are the questions and answers now? Is there something different in this time of the pandemic — do we mourn any differently? Is the fragility of life and grief’s portrayal different than in the four centuries since Hamlet?

Martha McDonald’s sculpture “The Weeping Dress” is also featured in a performance-art video as part of the exhibit. (Photo by Christian Capurro)

The palette of This Mortal Coil is a succession of monochromes in subdued hues and tonal variations. The darkest blue indigo is the color of Martha McDonald’s “The Weeping Dress,” a work from 2011. The dress is a Victorian mourning costume. The sculpture is made from crepe paper that has been fused to muslin and dyed with indigo inks to give the dress the darkest color that was possible in the 19th century. Widows wore this dark blue hue in Victorian times as a symbol of mourning; the premise was that no light should reflect from the grieving person.