‘It Is What It Is’: NSCAD student showcases art made in wake of her brother’s death

A Nova Scotia Master of Fine Arts students uses her latest exbibit “It Is What It Is” to honour her later brother.

For Vanessa Iafolla, art is a release of grief.

A Master of Fine Arts candidate at NSCAD University in Halifax, Iafolla says her exhibition “It Is What It Is” allowed her to express herself.

“The day that I was accepted into the MFA program, my younger brother and only sibling, Tristan, died in a car accident in Utah. At the time, I was completing a Master of Education in Counselling at Acadia University,” she told CTV News.

“So, I had this wonderful moment of receiving this, you know… letter of congratulations and then 12 hours later this moment of utter devastation. These two things have been tied together ever since.”

Iafolla says the exhibition consists work she has made in response to her brother’s death and the grieving process that has followed.

The exhibition, named after a saying her brother would often use, is on until Feb. 14 at the Anna Leonowens Gallery in Halifax. However, the work will be up until Feb.16 to commemorate the two-year anniversary of his death.

“The exhibition, for the last two years, has been me trying to understand how to move forward with life. How to be a sister even after your brother is dead and just kind of how to keep going forward, even though some days you feel really stuck in your grief,” says Iafolla.

Incorporating art into her grieving process has provided Iafolla with a way to help express her feelings.

“Immediately I just started documenting things, just picked up my cell phone camera and started taking pictures,” she says.

“That became part of a series of images of my parents, a slideshow of them day after day, visiting my brother’s grave, which has been, both really sad and really powerful to witness that kind of parental experience. I don’t think a lot of people accept that intimate view and, as their daughter, I do get to see it.”

At her parents’ request, Iafolla made a six-foot-tall cactus sculpture to install in Utah as a roadside memorial to her brother.

“As a landscaper, he had this huge practice where he grew all kinds of plants and he was really attentive to what plants were native to where and how to incorporate that kind of philosophy in his landscaping,” she says.

“A lot of the work incorporates his actual materials – his plants, the soil from his greenhouse, this kind of thing. And it’s been a real, I guess, privilege in a way, and an honor to be able to make work with my brother about him, even though he’s dead.”

Tristian died while in Utah on vacation with his girlfriend, who survived the car accident.

“The last thing he ever said to me was, ‘Is today your birthday? I can’t remember if it’s the 16th of the 17^th,’” recalls Iafolla.

“And at the time, I missed the message because I was busy with other things. And then I saw the message, and I rolled my eyes and I laughed because it was the most Tristian thing ever.”

Iafolla believes her brother’s message was proof of his love for his family.

“Even though he was away on vacation in Utah, and even though he was with his girlfriend and he was having a great time, that we were all still important to him and that your family is ever present with you and I’m so, so grateful for that message,” she says.

The grieving process hasn’t been easy for Iafolla. However, she says expressing her feelings through her art has been therapeutic.

“It lets me deal with things, stay level, stay steady, to the extent that’s possible,” she says.

“I think people feel like a burden. They don’t want to talk about their feelings. I certainly have felt that, but the thing is, your feelings don’t go anywhere.”

Iafolla is scheduled to present an artist talk on Friday at 12:00 p.m., also at the Anna Leonowens Gallery.

“I miss my brother every day, and I’m not going to say that it hasn’t been hard to look at his face while I’ve been making prints about him. But at the same time, I think that that kind of confrontation has been so helpful for meditating on our relationship,” she says.

From welding a cactus, to photographs of the scene of the car crash, to using soil found in his greenhouse, Iafolla has showcased her brother’s life and light.

“There’s an overlap of light. You can’t have photography without light, and you can’t have plants growing without light,” she explains.

“I installed a light fixture that flashes and there’s little clicking sounds and that’s a morse code message to my brother, just saying, ‘Hey, I hope you like the show. I don’t know where you are, if you don’t like it, don’t tell me. But, I miss you and I love you.’ That’s the truth of the message.”

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