In October 2023, I visited and wrote about Phantasmagoria, an exhibition of art by Carelyna hosted at Mareea Farraco’s IMAGOLand gallery. For July 2026, Carelyna has returned to IMAGOLand with an continuation / extension to that exhibition entitled, appropriately enough, Phantasmagoria II.
As I noted with the original exhibition, while the title might well evoke thoughts of ghosts and spectres, it can also reference the idea of a sequences of haphazardly associative imagery as seen in dreams. This latter interpretation is close to what we see here (and as was the case with the original Phantasmagoria – from which several of the pieces in this exhibition have been drawn), a juxtapositioning of images that speak to ideas of memory, emotions, absence – perhaps even loss – and the inner workings of the mind.
The 16 images on display are offered within a darker surround that the original exhibition, one that presents a more immersive sense of night and dreams to those inner thoughts of the mind as we become lost in subconscious, rather than conscious, thought. Candelabras which further imprint the idea of being within a hallowed place of memory and remembrance.
All of the 16 is a sepia-rich pieces, with their washed tone and faded or ghost-like images designed to represent both fragments of memory – events recalled through the mists of time in which ghost-like individuals appear sometimes almost clearly, others almost completely washed out – and of emotions and feelings.
Some of this might be gained by peeking at the individual names of the pieces via a right-click & edit; but it is far better to spend time contemplating what each means to you, and how they speak to how memories important to us, together with their associated emotions and feelings, never truly vanish – although they might over time become transformed by the passage of time and by our own growth and change. They can come unbidden and jumbled, but they can also be a journey through times past, reframing them and comforting or even healing us as they give us a second chance to recall those times.
An evocative, poignant and enchanting exhibition.
SLurl Details
- IMAGOLand Art Galleries (Rising Phoenix, rated Moderate)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 