"Squishing Out Breath," Loomis Gallery, Mansfield University, 2021

---

By the Time You Cut Teeth You Are Already Ancient, 

Curated by Evonne Davis, 

Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ, 

February 22, 2020

As of 2019, 29 million people have had their DNA tested. By the Time You Cut Teeth You Are Already Ancient by interdisciplinary installation artist Maria Driscoll McMahon, is, in part, a time-traveling, time-compressing meta-genealogical investigation that ruminates on the psycho-socio-political implications of mass DNA testing, patriarchy, loss, anemoia, and other things.

National lore and mythology originating in one’s ancestral stomping  grounds can inform the perceived purpose of one’s life, as “the self,”  in identification and sympathy with one’s ancestors permeates boundaries  of time and space. What happens when many find heroes, barbarians,  princes, paupers, and sworn enemies sitting on the same branch of the  family tree? How will the past inform the future?

Anemoia: Nostalgia for a time you've never known. From the "Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows," by John Koenig