Holly de Moissac

a storming flash

embers depart

(a)light

whisper(s) to the dark,
”emergence or oblivion?”

beyond the boughs
a crackling exhalation

ashes (re)born
to a nowhere place

this desert full
of ghosts and grace

A fire desert and its inhabitants:
Drawing, laser engraving, fire, charcoal, ash, “campfire” paint.

low drone in the grass
gray skies through the glass

branches sweep, smell sweet
rot in the water—last year’s leaves

slough full of little beasts
striders, flies, swimmers sleek

shimmer orb, murky deep
surface tension, break, repeat

drip
drip
drip

follow it
steadily

t h e
s l o w

c o o l s e n s a t i o n

flowing through

pouring out
draining away

to the last
drop

Part of the Dyscorpia exhibition, Lingering on the Surface is an imagined fusion of land and body in 21st century. This body is deeply rooted in an elemental landscape of aluminum and salt, which have been processed into products for human consumption. This fusion is uncomfortable and is made possible by the presence of a gently drifting medical narrative.

Read more about the Dyscorpia project and exhibition here.

SOLD OUT

Femme Fatale happens at the intersection of the vulnerable female body and the vulnerable environment.

The work explores the overlap in descriptive language of nature and female bodies— used to soften and anthropomorphize, framing both our bodies and environments as passive and pastoral. The truth is more complex: we are all at once powerful and vulnerable, reflective and reactive, anxious and immovable, bursting with potential and disaster. Pieces feature markers of deconstruction, industry, and western Canadian flora that has been classified according to its usefulness (Canada thistle, poison ivy, wheat). 

AVAILABLE

Artist's Book, Edition of 3, 2017
15 ¾" wide x 13" high
Faux grass, digital print, intaglio print, relief print, silkscreen, avocado dye, chine-collé on BFK Rives 250

Naturalisms explores the the blurry intersection of man, manmade, and natural. Alchemic assemblages are imagined as relief prints, produced as sculptures, documented as digital prints, and suspended over darkly marbled etchings.

Each page spread transforms natural resources, human intervention, and the truly organic into an intimate examination of the word "natural".

PRINT TO ORDER

Ashes Over Water is a visual investigation of the imperfect and unpredictable nature of human experience.

Through fragmentation and reduction, bodies are imagined as emotional spaces that contain injury, experience, complexity, and meaning— inseparable from the natural cycles of breakdown and renewal. Each piece explores a conflict between physical limits and boundless possibility, in an effort to articulate the ineffable relationship between loss and vitality. 

PRINT TO ORDER

Ashes Over Water is a visual investigation of the imperfect and unpredictable nature of human experience.

In this series, bodily elements, construction hardware, and processed/unprocessed raw materials coalesce into fragile forms that explore a dichotomy of careful intention without function. 

Each piece depicts a talisman of man's inability (and desire) rise above and conquer our environment. 

Ashes Over Water is a visual investigation of the imperfect and unpredictable nature of human experience.

Each pine box frame contains imagery, reflections, statements, or poetry relating to physical vulnerability, inspired by conversations with members of the Edmonton community.

SOLD

Relief print and silk-screen on rag paper, 38 pages, 12” w x 11” h per page, bound and divided into 7 sections. The text is an original poem, titled "A Moment of Silence for Myself, Then Ellis".

A selection of small one-off prints, produced for mini-print competitions, portfolio exchanges, and individual projects. 

farsighted explores the tension between preciousness and physical decay that coexist in our collective bodies and environments. 

This work is an exploration of man's changing nature which becomes visible as buildings exist past functionality. Decayed structures are released from the human construct of immortality and become simultaneous containers for trace and imaginary space, where anything could happen. 

These images were produced with funding from the Roger S. Smith Research Grant. 

AVAILABLE

Intaglio & chine-collé on rag paper, 2013

In this body of work, I explore the changing nature of man that becomes visible when buildings are allowed to exist past their point of functionality. Decayed structures are released from the human construct of immortality and become simultaneous containers for trace and imaginary space, where anything could happen. 

These images were produced with funding from the Roger S. Smith Research Grant. 

Each work captures a range human presence, questions the meaning of constructed space, and a seeks to document the wearing down that the greatest achievements cannot escape.  

These images were produced with funding from the Roger S. Smith Research Grant. 

These paintings draw from images taken during a visit to Detroit's industrial wasteland, layered with topography and blueprints from my own industrial community. 

Industrial ruins provide a unique opportunity to examine the human relationship to constructed space; each building's original intention reflects a remnant of human ambition. In their shift from corporate to public space, these factories exit the realm of utilitarianism; their deterioration causes a conceptual transience as they become monuments to failure, natural reclamation, and decay.

The Industrial Series was funded by the Roger S. Smith Research Grant.

Artist's book, photo-intaglio chine-collé & digital print on rag paper, 2013-15
The book consists of 8 pages, 39 1/2”w x 13 1/2”h per page, bound and divided into 4 sections.

These images were produced with funding from the Roger S. Smith Research Grant.