Not Even Past was an art exhibition and performance event presented at Arts of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City, NC, in September and October 2024. The exhibition was supported by a 2023 Artists’ Support Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The art exhibition included 16 individual artworks: 8 mixed-media artworks by Suzanne Scott Constantine, and 8 photomontage artworks by Lynne Scott Constantine. Each artwork was accompanied by a brief text contextualizing the historical and personal moments referenced in the work.

Interactive “Communities of Memory”

The exhibition also included an interactive component called “Communities of Memory.” The work included a mixed-media painting hung with handmade tags, on which visitors to the exhibition were invited to add their responses to the exhibition’s themes of history, personal memory, and the persistence of the past in the present.

Performance Poety: “Palimpsest”

The performance event, “Palimpsest,” took place at the exhibition’s opening reception. “Palimpsest” is a 7-minute original spoken-word poem that reflects on the complex relationship among received history, personal memories, personal a group identity, and the notion of “home.”

Audio Recording of “Palimpsest”

Listen here on our site, or download the audio for listening later.

Exhibition Booklets

For our exhibitions, we each write a short booklet that gives background about our work and our intentions. Download the booklets for Not Even Past here:

Click on any of the images below to see a larger version of the image and to learn more about the work.

Suzanne’s Work

Lynne’s Work