When I first saw There One Day, Gone the Next by Charlotte Tampol, my heart sank. 

And that is not to say the work does not resonate; the work in fact, is a living, breathing depiction of grief, so tangible, that the reaction became both visceral and physical. Tampol has created an environment so forcibly instrewed with the nuances of navigating new realities, that individualized loss becomes an immersive destination. 

Created at Bard College, the work is a living installation (literally) of life and death, perceived from those who continue on. The usage of biodegradable materials forces viewers to consider what the living continue to take for granted, in the atmosphere of a familiar and familial space. Right away, loss is apparent in the environment. We see an empty chair, a coat (lovingly placed on a hook), old newspapers, empty beer cans, and smoked cigarettes. The visualization of who once walked in, hung up their coat, sat in the chair (with a Miller Lite and a Marlboro Gold), emerges.  

It could’ve been him. It could’ve been her. It could’ve been them. 

However, being forced to contend with the gelatinous rot of foodscapes left about, creates a dichotomy of  impermanence. We cannot love away loss. We cannot hold the fleeting. It is irresponsible to expect that what we hold dear, can stay, just for us, for the comfort of nourishment. 

This understanding and depiction is a necessary contemporary work by Tampol, as a vivid reminder of the longevity of those we hold closest. There One Day, Gone the Next, actively serves as a reminder to the necessity of the artist in spaces of healing.

-Sierra R. Aguilar