Kelly Paoletti

I am enchanted by the process in which a ghost is created. Not those one

would typically find in a horror film, but entities akin to spirits and beings
called yokai rooted in the folklore of Shinto Buddhism. These beings
typically involve themselves with humans in various ways ranging from
malevolent and mischievous to silent helpers and bringers of good fortune.
My work examines the realms of the real and the fantasy aiming to let them
interact while also defining the line between them. I work with empirical
matter to depict the theoretical and unseen. Using multifaceted mediums, I
highlight the realness of one element of the work. For example, a tactile,
corporeal painting with the light of a projection—which can only exist as
long as the projector is on. After all, you can take a painting home, but you
can’t hold light.
Though many would likely categorize a character in a work of fiction as “not
real”, forming emotional attachments to things validates and makes their
existence equal to that of anything else. Emotional manipulation is,
therefore, another tool I use—though I do it as kindly as possible. With all
this in mind I ask: how can I get the viewer to see the soul of the work, so
that its ghost continues to haunt them?