Cut paper silhouettes by Rachel TonThat and Chelsey Pettyjohn hung with thread, 2024
Box of Delights builds on the theme of children’s stories and references antique bestiaries and shadow play, using light to evoke classical methods of narrative by the fireside. The cut paper figures of this installation are dormant; waiting to be brought to life, to be given breath and movement, to be animated by imagination.
For their time at Chashama NYC, Rachel TonThat and Chelsey Pettyjohn present a duology of installations that references the qualities of magical realism of children’s books from the 1800s and early 1900s.