Artwork: Mary Hallam Pearse and Joseph Peragine, Steered by Falling Stars, 2024.

Lamar Dodd School of Art Director Joseph Peragine and Professor of Art Mary Hallam Pearse are presenting a collaborative artwork titled Steered by Falling Stars for …an Atlanta Biennial..., organized by The Temporary Art Center from October 3 - November 3, 2024.

Pearse and Peragine drew on overlapping themes in their work to create Steered by Falling Stars. Exploring concepts of death, decadence, pleasure, fear, love, and loss, the artists crafted an imposing skull from discarded plastic flowers collected from cemeteries across Georgia. The piece powerfully evokes the fragility of life and the transient nature of existence.

The artificial flowers—symbols of love, mourning, devotion, and celebration—serve to fill voids and preserve memories, yet, in their artificiality, they defy decay. They become striking metaphors for the contradictions of our time, embodying both permanence and impermanence, and reflecting the bittersweet paradoxes of the human experience.

The project was supported by UGA’s Willson Center for Humanities and the Arts through a Faculty Research Grant. Additional assistance was provided by artists Leah Mazza and Mickey Boyd. Without their invaluable help, this project would not have been possible.

Installation progress shot of Steered by Falling Stars.