Elina Ansary: Morphic Residence
Elina Ansary (M.F.A. '25), detail from Rubble #4 (2025), acrylic, mylar, plaster, and broken cds on wood panel. image / provided
Exhibition Abstract
In his book Morphic Resonance, biologist Rupert Sheldrake states, "Human societies have memories that are transmitted through the culture of the group, and are most explicitly communicated through the ritual reenactment of a founding story or myth." Building on Sheldrake's theories, Elina Ansary's (M.F.A. '25) thesis exhibition, Morphic Residence, investigates the House as a conceptual framework for recounting her own familial myth.
The House is simultaneously a body that shelters an individual consciousness, the storehouse for ancestral memory, and the architecture of collective consciousnesses. Centering around the true story of a house that no longer exists; the exhibition will unfold in three locations. Through painting, sculpture, installation, zines, and video animation, Morphic Residence casts the House as multiple characters enacting parallel dramas.
While rooted in Experimental Gallery in Tjaden Hall, the exhibition will extend to two adjacent locations in the building, transforming the viewing experience into a scavenger hunt and presenting the underlying narrative as a mystery to unravel.
Exhibitor Biography
Elina Ansary (M.F.A. '25) was born and raised in San Francisco by a Jewish mother and an Afghan-Finnish father. Working primarily in painting and sculpture, her work explores time, consciousness, and perception through the narrative lens of her own hybrid heritage. Ansary earned her B.F.A. in Painting from Pratt Institute in 2013 and completed the Scenic Painting Professional Apprenticeship at the Juilliard School in 2017. Ansary was an artist-in-residence at BigCi (Australia, 2017), Chautauqua Institution (USA, 2021), La Macina di San Cresci (Italy, 2022), and RaumArs (Finland, 2023). Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Holter Museum (USA, 2024), UC Berkeley's Worth Ryder Gallery (USA, 2023), and the Rauma Art Museum (Finland, 2023). Ansary is based in Brooklyn, where she is a cofounder of a DIY art space called Peach Pit Gallery.
