Corden|Potts Gallery presents an exhibition of two projects by K.K. DePaul: Only Child and Between the Lines.
Both projects deal with a family secret and the lingering effects it had on K.K.’s family.
Speaking about her Only Child project, she says, “When he was five, his daddy was hanged for murder. When he was six, his mother left him on the steps of the orphanage. Later, when he was much older, he tried to kill himself…and when it didn’t work the first time…he tried it again.” So begins the story of the “lost boy” who became K.K.’s father.
The murder and execution also play a role in K.K.’s second project, Between the Lines. She says, “It was a taboo subject in our family, and out of respect for my grandmother, nobody ever spoke of it. We believed that because my grandfather had been convicted on circumstantial evidence, he had been convicted wrongly.” However, when her grandmother died, KK inherited a box that revealed truths previously hidden from her.
Explaining her process, KK says, “I have always been fascinated with multiple interpretations, double exposures, and the ambiguities that arise depending on which character is telling the story. My process begins with a collection of elements…memory…images…writing… As I move the elements around, a visual narrative begins to take shape, signaling a new understanding of parallel stories between the generations. I see the layering of paper and photographs as being similar to the way our mind organizes memory…at different depths…one over another…constantly shifting. Sometimes I feel as though I am trying to solve a puzzle with multiple solutions. In the layering and relayering…combining and recombining…telling and retelling…I finally understand that I am no longer telling the stories contained in my grandmother’s box.I am telling mine.”
K.K. DePaul – Only Child and Between the Lines
September 6 – October 20
Corden|Potts Gallery
49 Geary St, San Francisco, CA 94108
