'IF HAPPY LITTLE BLUEBIRDS FLY BEYOND THE RAINBOW, WHY OH WHY CAN’T I?' - Photograph Print on Archival Paper

Aeson Baldevia presents a triptych of photographs accompanied by an audio recording of letters he had written to his wife in 2021. These works are manifestations of his coping process through loss and grief. Months before their church wedding, the couple experienced the trauma of an unfulfilled dream: his wife was diagnosed with endometrial carcinoma, thus preventing them to bear a child. Each work in the triptych embodies themes of the Dream, the Nightmare, and the Reality. Through these works, Baldevia investigates “repetition compulsion”-- the unconscious need to re-enact previous traumas. A person with this condition repeats these traumas in new situations, which can act as a barrier to therapeutic change. Creating these works is the artist’s method of searching for acceptance and enlightenment.