Before the work exists, the artist moves through her own universe, observing it in minute detail, delighting in the micro-events that are so difficult to capture in photographs. All the same, she cannot resist collecting certain traces: the delicacy of this constellation of asters, the texture of this bark, the lines of these blades of grass, the glistening pearls of this light. The imperfectly preserved remains of these fleeting moments become the material from which new worlds can emerge, as from the detritus that fertilizes the soil of gardens and forests: little nothings that, together, make a habitat for countless species.

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Using cut-outs from her photographs and drawings, Noelle Wharton-Ayer creates her photograms somewhat as she would arrange a garden—little hands occupied with caring for one plant and dividing another in order to transplant part of it to live with still others. And each time, although a final composition could have been imagined, the elements so placed come together as they like, communicating with each other and transforming themselves, nourishing the soil of their own world. Speaking to the mystery of all creation, this exhibition invites us to find in it spaces in which to take refuge or, better yet, to dream.

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<em>Bedfellows</em> was created as part of VU’s residency-exhibition program, and is part of our <em>and</em> <em>everything it takes</em> programming, which looks at the forces and resources that drive us and what, within and outside of ourselves, might represent both a potential and a threat.

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