Mixed-Media Assemblage

Overview

Fragments examines how meaning can survive the destruction of its original form. At its center is a simple folding chair positioned within a field of shattered ceramic objects intentionally broken by the artist. The fragments originate from a MUD Australia dinner service preserved from his marriage. Rather than keeping the plates in service, the artist shattered them, allowing their meaning to remain while their function changed entirely. Scattered among them are the remains of a red ceramic cup, the only intact object within the field being a blood-stained towel bearing the artist’s fingerprint, marked during the installation after he cut his finger while arranging the broken pieces. Nearby, a Christmas bubble light given to him by his mother remains illuminated, preserving a childhood memory within a landscape otherwise defined by rupture.

The installation is completed by a folding chair acquired in Seward Park more than a decade earlier. Positioned within the field of fragments, it functions as a quiet invitation to sit among the broken pieces rather than step around them. The work asks the viewer not to imagine restoration, but to recognize that meaning remains intact even when form has irrevocably changed. Within EZRA, Fragments demonstrates that destruction need not signify disappearance. Objects, relationships, and memories may enter new states while continuing to carry the histories that formed them. Fragments does not represent loss. It performs transformation.

Metadata

Artist
Seth / Ezra Dager

Year
2025–2026

Medium
Mixed-Media Installation

Status
Complete

Archive
Human Archive

Location
The Rigley Field

Components
Shattered MUD Australia dinner service; shattered red ceramic cup; blood-stained towel with fingerprint; Christmas bubble light; folding chair from Seward Park.