August 2026

Roots and Remembrance by Ayn Gailey explores grief not as separation, but as an enduring bond. Layering heirloom photographs of the artist’s late mother in Taiwan with contemporary photographs of the family and landscapes she left behind, these works weave together memory, ancestry, and place. Some pieces turn toward those who remain; others toward the natural world that outlives us—the trees, earth, and shadowed paths that still seem to hold the trace of those who once passed lightly through them.

Hand-stitched threads become both physical marks and symbolic connections, suggesting the invisible ties that continue between generations. Red evokes the mystical “red string” of fate and devotion; black suggests the enduring roots that hold firm beneath the surface of loss. Through this merging of past and present, the work collapses time and ancestry, creating a liminal space between memory and presence. Trees, soil, light, and shadow recur throughout the series as reminders that even in death, we return to the earth—and that love, like roots, continues to reach for what is no longer visible.

Created following the loss of her mother, this series marks the artist's first visual work.