May 16-June 1, 2025

Light Artist Melissa Auerbach Schaeffer

Artist Statement: A grove of trees in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. Lining a path. Believed to be elm trees. Each bark its own skin.  Protecting the tree. Guarding its witness. Shielding its inner workings. Growing and shedding with time. Photographed in 35mm film over a decade ago by light artist Melissa Auerbach Schaeffer during her own healing memory path through stark and soft metaphor of emotional body and gentle and deep healing modalities through nature. The poetic body. The body that holds and heals pain. The spirit that moves through presence and memory. The soul that is embodied as we love and remember who we lost. The love that found entrance and exit. The sacred grove. 

Curator John C. Morris

Thank you to Darby Auerbach-Morris, Keisuke Hagiwara, and task rabbits Malek, Mohamed, and Taha for installing the exhibition. Thank you to Arie, Paul, Ryan and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF) for donating the vitrines/display cases for this exhibition and thank you to Rebecca Nestle and the rest of the Grace Cathedral staff and board for displaying the artwork in your sacred space.

For inquiry/collecting, please contact Darby Auerbach-Morris at auerbachartistcolony@gmail.com.