Remnants of Elsewhere: 'Souvenir' group exhibition at Albany International Airport Concourse A Gallery, NY, USA, June 30 – December 27, 2023.

Albany International Airport is thrilled to host Souvenir, an exhibition that celebrates and expands upon a partnership with 'Cut Me Up' magazine, and its unique collage-centred directive, through December 27, 2023, in its post-security Concourse A Gallery.

Souvenir was conceived and curated by Albany Airport Art & Culture Program Director Kathy Greenwood upon an invitation from Cut Me Up’s Andrea Burgay, and this is the first in-person exhibition of the magazine’s entries.
The exhibition includes the 18 artists selected for the print edition of Issue 11, as well as six additional artists from the call’s pool of submissions. In the spirit of offering a more expansive view of souvenirs, this exhibition also includes some specially invited guests. The artists Katharine Umsted and Cut Me Up’s founder, Andrea Burgay, both independently created a series of works based upon postcards that they called Wish You Were Here.

Remnants of Elsewhere (2023) by Jac Batey
Collaged vintage papers including a receipt album, postcards, envelopes, and stamps. Hand cut rubber stamps, pencil marks and drawings with inks.
H275mm x W220mm ( H 10.82”x W 8.66” )

In this drawn collage, I explore the emotional impact of displacement and nostalgia using NZ stamps collected by my mother. She emigrated from the UK to NZ in the '50s, but returned to London in '69, while pregnant with me. Her stamp collection and letters served as a melancholy souvenir of the places she left behind. When I inherited them, they connected me to her yearning for home. This piece serves as a reflection on my own remembered relationship with my mother, displacement, and the concept of home. They include collaged elements from Ashok Kumar Varma’s ‘Contemplation’ from CMU#10