Personal time capsules in ice

"Insight or Afterglow'' (polypropylene print on sintra), by Kathleen Gerdon Archer, in her show "Fare Well; The Art of Leaving,'' at Kingston Gallery, Boston, Aug. 30-Oct. 1.

The gallery says: "Remembrance and the fragility of life are at the core of Kathleen Gerdon Archer's most recent photographic series, Fare Well: The Art of Ending. Archer's work honors people she lost through painterly photographs of constructed ice forms. Of the symbolism in her lyrical images she says, 'We are all bits and pieces of the generations that came before us, condensed like the lines of minerals that we see in rocks left by glaciers on the New England shore.'

"Archer's photographs capture the quiet melting of ice sculptures she has created. The constructions are intimate time capsules for the person she is memorializing. Personal items from the homes of lost family and friends are placed in a vessel and frozen, layer by layer, scoring lines in the ice that mirror stratum of the earth. The first layer is rock and the second plant matter. The third is seed from plants and birds and the fourth layer is thick with torn family photographs. Subsequent layers are personal memorabilia... jewelry, birth and death announcements, report cards and more. As they melt, Archer photographs the exposed contents.''