Absent Pieces: The Story and Meaning Behind The Two Chairs

TWO CHAIRS: ABSENCE, MEMORY, & MEANING IN MY FRAGMENTS SERIES

Looking at a set of chairs may not strike inspiration for everyone, but it did for me. These two chairs hold deep personal meaning and serve as the foundation for several works in my Fragments series.

When I first sat with them, the words 'empty' and 'alone' surfaced immediately. From that reflection, Absent became the title of one of the pieces shown in my Fragments exhibition. Alongside it, I exhibited a black-and-white variation of the same chairs, titled Empty & Absent. Though visually similar, each version holds a distinct emotional weight.

On my art page, these works live together under the Fragments series—different interpretations of the same form, each exploring absence, memory, and what remains when something or someone is no longer present.

ABSENT (Sold)

THE PERSONAL PIECE

The Spanish translation of Absent is Ausente. The piece titled Ausente was never meant to be shown. It was created for me alone.

I wanted to keep an original version of the three works that sparked the Fragments series. As the series grew, I created multiple versions of several pieces, but these chairs stayed with me. They lingered. They haunted me from the moment I first photographed them.

AUSENTE (Sold)

WHAT THEY SYMBOLIZED

I understood what the chairs symbolized almost immediately, even if I didn’t yet have the language for it. They represented the two parents who were not present during my early childhood. That realization didn’t fully surface until much later in life—so late that I was already an adult. There’s an irony in the fact that I encountered these chairs while spending time with my father. A quality time that I sought out, for my own healing, and even together, I could feel his absence.

I’m not someone who sits and dwells on hardship. I move forward. I adapt. I let experience become fuel rather than weight. I don’t advertise the difficult parts of my life, but I don’t hide them either. For a long time, I avoided explaining the meaning behind these works, even to myself.

During the Fragments exhibition, the story surfaced naturally. Those who spent time with the pieces, especially those who chose to know and asked, understood their meaning. Fast forward to the last one, Absent, the last one. It was hanging in the hallway leading to my studio. I didn’t have a title on it; I was planning on bringing it home. The person who purchased it saw it and understood the meaning behind it even before I explained the story.

EMPTY & ABSENT (Sold)

One version of Ausente was later selected for the Tenth Annual Juried Exhibition at Archway Gallery. The exhibition was juried by Diane Griffin Gregory.