Mourning Cloak

Series TitleGray Dawn

Artist Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison (Robert (American, born 1968); Shana (American, born 1964))

Date2006

MediumChromogenic print with mixed media

DimensionsImage, sheet, mount: 34 1/2 × 40 1/2 inches (87.63 × 102.87 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation

Object number2007.21.25

SignedOn mount verso, on artist label: "R. ParkeHarrison/ S. ParkeHarrison"

InscribedOn mount verso, on label: "Mourning Cloak, 2 of 4, 2006"

Edition/State/Proofed. 2/4

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionImage of a shirtless man seated and facing the corner of a room. He is surrounded by colorful butterflies, some of which rest on him while others fly above.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Restoration: Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, October 11, 2008 – February 8, 2009.

Thinking Photography: Five Decades at the Kansas City Art Institute. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, July 24, 2010 – January 2, 2011, no cat.

Gallery Label

A fusion of painting, photography, and performance art, the work of Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison explores the complex relationships between humanity, ecology, and technology. Robert often appears in these images as an anonymous “everyman” whose task is to tend, or bear witness to, a dying or damaged earth. In Mourning Cloak, colorful butterflies land on his bare back as he sits alone in a gray, cell-like room. The mood is somber but not without hope as the constructed butterflies appear as emblems of rebirth.

Provenance

Purchased from the Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL by The Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2007;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2007.

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