chapel fence

Abstraction in art and archiving reminds us that our bodies carry ways of knowing that exceed institutional forms of literacy. Abstraction can be understood as a way of accessing knowledge prior to writing and speaking. It can be a means to connect with a feeling.

Donel Williams's chapel fence explores mark-making as a process of communication. Referencing the architecture of the archive’s shared building — a green mesh ceiling that runs like a nave of a chapel — Williams’ triptych invites us to explore his gestures in the context of literacy, suppression and recovery.