SEPARATIONS
Eli Show + Angela Zonunpari

Gates are often separations between spaces—a here-there, or an in-out, entrance-exit. Traditional torii gates in Japan are said to mark a transition from the mundane to the sacred. A concept that’s often expressed as “liminal spaces” in art and in different cultures. 

The installation’s title “SEPARATIONS” functions as the conventional split between art and life, and—to muddy the waters, as it relates to us—the lack of disconnection between those practices. 

Our work together comes from us sharing a home and how our house has evolved because of us being artists. When you share a space with another person, you often become incidental collaborators. We create objects for use, but a lot of “art installations” happen in our home due to lack of storage. For Eli, whose practice is mainly sculptural, installation work, his art is about arrangement and relational aesthetics. For Angela, who works mainly in texts and textiles, it’s about artful objects and tiny stories. So, our collaborative work is highly influenced by how we've arranged things within our home. 

While our personal art practices are separated by medium specifics, they are quite related. Our jobs as well are related to our practices. One of us works at a history museum building furniture for artifacts and the other is an editor of an arts-focused storytelling initiative. We are both very involved in how things create stories and meaning. Our practice as a collaboration then lends itself to the meeting of our mediums and how we can complicate and simplify these interactions.

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Eli Show (he/him) is an artist living and working in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He attended the University of South Dakota and went on to receive his masters in fine art from Syracuse University in New York where he lived for a number of years. Show is the preparator (“the builder of exhibits”) at the Old Courthouse Museum; a member of Hooks (formerly We All Have Hooks For Hands) for over 15 years, touring the country multiple times and releasing records worldwide; and recently served as the Art Director for Headlights Theater, a local nonprofit bringing professional dance and music performances to parking lots.

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Angela Zonunpari (she/her) is a South Asian (northeast India) immigrant artist and editor living in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Her interdisciplinary practice includes texts and textiles. It is led by the intention of creating interactions between people; people and ideas; people and art. She received her masters in arts journalism from Syracuse University, New York, and before that pursued her education, lived, and worked in New Delhi and other parts of India. Currently, Zonunpari is the managing editor for Arts Midwest’s Creativity News Desk. She has worked at Fresh Produce and Ipso Gallery in Sioux Falls, and with nonprofits and newsrooms in the U.S. and in India.

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