Timothy Mathews, There and not here : chronicles of art and loss [Book review]

Abstract

This book is a reading of Art strong on grace, keen on invention. Timothy Mathews structures There and Not Here in seventeen chronicles, all of which arise from the author’s encounters with various art forms: from paintings, to film, to installations, and more. What binds these discrete sections together is that they all, in some way or another, tap into loss and recovery, if not redemption, through art. Its central nerve is gratitude, ‘dedicated to one who isn’t here to receive it’, as the author says in his Acknowledgements. Not being there does not make her absent; rather, she lives on every page. [excerpt]