Karyn Olivier: Bend, Break, Mend at MOCAD Explores Memory and Repair

Karyn Olivier's exhibition 'Bend, Break, Mend' opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) from 8 August to 11 October 2026. The show features sculptures and installations that transform found materials into meditations on historical rupture, collective memory, and repair. Olivier discusses her interest in 'amplified absences,' drawing on the work of Michel-Rolph Trouillot about selective silencing. She uses materials like fishing lines, asphalt roofing, and emergency blankets to evoke displacement and survival. Notable works include '(De)(Re)(In)place' (2023), '363 DAYS (Soon Come)' (2021), 'Drift (Tributary)' (2023), 'Tetherball' (2005/2014), 'POWER LINE' (2021), 'RIFT RIFF' (2021), 'Shelter', and 'Powers of 10 (Home Kit)' (2023). Olivier references her Trinidadian heritage, including Pitch Lake and Carnival, and discusses her monument practice, such as offering carnation corsage pins at ICA Philadelphia to acknowledge the MOVE organization. She emphasizes embodied experience and the evolving nature of memory. The exhibition is presented by MOCAD and featured in an interview by Brendon Bell-Roberts.