Breadth of Air by John Marie Andrada

A montage is a series of moving or still images edited together to create a continuous sequence. Montages enable the communication of heavy information to an audience over a brief span of time by juxtaposing different shots, compressing time through editing, or intertwining multiple storylines of a narrative.

For John Marie Andrada’s first solo exhibition Breadth of Air, we can think of a montage as effective chapters offering a condensed breadth of the artist’s practice and history. In addition, the works seek to give shape for our breaths of air in various phases of questioning, longing, and solace.

A prevalent choice of colour in the exhibition is blue, stretched and swirled in possibilities of density and form. In Andrada’s reconciliation with grief, blue skies and moving waters become conduits of infinity: How long more does life go on, at the absence of a loved one? Yet, the montage of skies also harbours the comfort of endlessness: Life goes on, regardless of the presence of a loved one. As fond memories ascend in our thoughts, we knead them to the best of our ability to remember.