The Mezzanine Gallery Presents Shefon Taylor’s “The Fragment Holds More Than the Whole”

Through evocative collage and archival abstraction, Taylor explores memory, identity, and the poetics of fragmentation in her May 2025 exhibition

 

Wilmington, Del. (May 1, 2025) –The Delaware Division of the Arts’ Mezzanine Gallery is pleased to present The Fragment Holds More Than the Whole, a solo exhibition of collage works by Delaware artist Shefon N. Taylor. The show will be on view from May 2 to May 30, 2025, with an opening reception on Friday, May 2, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Visitors are invited to meet the artist and experience firsthand her thoughtful exploration of memory, beauty, and belonging through archival abstraction.

In The Fragment Holds More Than the Whole, Taylor uses found vintage magazine and book imagery, tracing paper, and thread to reframe our understanding of archives, memory, and identity. Rather than seeking to reconstruct or restore wholeness, Taylor’s work engages the fragment as a dynamic site of presence and possibility. Each piece becomes an act of negotiation—inviting viewers to confront the spaces between what is seen and unseen, remembered and forgotten, complete and incomplete.

Drawing from Toni Morrison’s concept of “rememory”—the idea of recollection as a reassembly of body, family, and historical memory—Taylor’s collages challenge conventional narratives shaped by public archives. Her layered approach, which she terms “archival abstraction,” resists restoration and instead privileges rupture, opacity, and the poetics of absence. Her work invites audiences to reckon with beauty standards, notions of Black femininity, and the myth of historical resolution.

“This body of work interrogates the visual archive’s limitations and its entanglement with Black history and beauty,” Taylor explains. “By working with fragments—partial, severed, obscured—I aim to honor the spaces where meaning survives outside of traditional notions of wholeness. Fragmentation isn’t failure; it’s a different kind of remembering.”

The exhibition’s signature image, A fragment of “She touched my shoulder like she knew me”, exemplifies Taylor’s process: a tender, layered encounter with memory where vintage imagery and delicate threadwork suspend certainty and invite reflection. Through her compositions, Taylor suggests that what remains—what resists closure—can hold deeper truths than what appears complete.

Taylor’s work has been featured in national publications such as Essence, Grazia, and Harper’s Bazaar, and her dedication to reimagining the archive has earned her residencies and fellowships at institutions like The Delaware Contemporary and The Winterthur Museum. For more information about Shefon N. Taylor and her artistic practice, visit www.shefontaylor.com.

About the Artist

Shefon N. Taylor is an artist called by the secret realms of the archive. Through collage and material exploration, she investigates how absence shapes interiority, belonging, and personal memory. Her work has been recognized and published nationally, and she continues to develop her practice through ongoing research fellowships and exhibitions. Taylor holds a strong commitment to exploring the poetics of fragmentation as a tool for cultural and personal inquiry.

About the Mezzanine Gallery

The Mezzanine Gallery, located on the second floor of the Carvel State Office Building (820 N. French Street, Wilmington, DE), is open to the public Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The gallery highlights the work of Delaware’s Individual Artist Fellows, showcasing a diverse range of artistic talent throughout the year. For more information, visit https://arts.delaware.gov/mezzanine-gallery.

Images in the banner: A fragment of “she touched my shoulder like she knew me” (2025), Found vintage magazine and book imagery, tracing paper and thread on Bristol board, 11”x14”.  He told me to wait, so I never moved” (2025), Found vintage magazine and book imagery, tracing paper and thread on Bristol board, 11”x14”.

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Contact: Andrew Truscott, Program Officer, Marketing and Communications

302-577-8280, andrew.truscott@delaware.gov

About the Delaware Division of the Arts
The Delaware Division of the Arts is an agency of the State of Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Funding for Division programs is provided by annual appropriations from the Delaware General Assembly and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. For more information about the Delaware Division of the Arts, visit arts.delaware.gov or call 302-577-8278.