VANISHING

ARTIST

Caito Stewart

Caito Stewart was born and raised in Ossining, New York. After getting her BFA in Painting from Washington University in St. Louis, she lived in Tokyo and worked at a language school for almost ten years. In 2017, she returned to New York, where she received her MFA in Sculpture from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. She draws on her personal history and research to create sculptural ruins, memorials, and installations, and provides opportunities for connection through her performances and workshops. Through these various mediums, she works to encourage and normalize open reflection and discussion on loss and grief.

COUNTRY

United States

PROJECT

Welcome Home

Welcome Home depicts the outdoor entryway of a domestic home. A door knob and a door lock are mounted on the wall at the usual height at which you would find such objects, tempting viewers to reach out and open the door. Yet, both have been cast in transparent resin, essentially making the door functionless and inaccessible. On the ground below are piles of charcoal dust. Their carefully arranged pattern in the shape of a welcome mat, suggests either the incinerated remains of such a mat, or the residue left behind after its removal. The pattern has been disturbed, perhaps scattered by the wind. The ghostly knob and lock are vanishing into thin air, and the doormat is in danger of being blown away altogether. Like a ruin, this door is disappearing into its surroundings, reminding us that everything in our lives is fragile, temporal, and subject to eventual decay or disappearance.

MEDIUM

Cast resin, hand-ground charcoal dust, wall