Anamnesis

The Greek noun, anamnesis, asserts the ever-presence of the past. It can be translated straightforwardly as ‘reminiscence,’ but it is also a word that expresses the possibility of remembering things from a previous existence, used by the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, to describe the innate knowledge recalled by the immortal soul through each rebirth. Using anamnesis as its guiding principle, this exhibition stages a series of conversations, or remembrances, between the work of Sergio Suárez (b. 1995, Mexico City, Mexico) and the Carlos Museum’s collections of Indigenous American art, Greek and Roman art, and Works on Paper. Through print, sculpture, and ceramic, interspersed through the permanent collection galleries, Suárez explores the passage and presence of time on a cosmic, mythic, and intimately human scale, inviting us to consider the processes that transform objects into artifacts and the histories, memories, and lives they embody.