The Scribe - Page 9

The Art of Masking Creating Sensory Worlds Masks can be a way to hide yourself from the world and a place beyond imagine. Alice did it in Wonderland, Willy Wonka in his Chocolate Factory, and Lauren Pearce did it in her exhibited work Wake Me Where I Lay. Documenting her “process of unmasking” after receiving her autism diagnosis, her exhibit ran at Framed Gallery from September 27 to November 22, 2025. She created fantastical scenes for the viewer to get a sense of their inner world. The viewer is immersed both by the sight of the figurative paintings and the sound of the personalized playlist through headphones. The touch of sand in the physical sandbox further adds to the sensory stimulation. Pearce created safe spaces for viewers with the use of the sensory mediums like touch and sound, as well as by making her show accessible through a virtual exhibition online to view at home. A Journey Through Masks This exhibit is a well-executed journey of Pearce’s reckoning with her unmasking after receiving her autism diagnosis and her overall continued journey of life. There was much care in every part of the exhibit, from the documentation of process, the scale of the work, and the positioning of the different experiential zones. An interesting contrast is seen in the tight process control of her figurative pieces versus her dreamy abstracted pieces. Pearce seemingly built a “choose your own adventure” exhibit of her journey for viewers to walk through and create their own connections between the different pieces. Concluding on her work, Pearce remarks, “Wake Me Where I Lay is both a plea and a surrender. It marks a turning point in my journey, a point of stillness, rootedness, and awakening to the truth of who I am when the masks fall away.” OHIO CULTUREBy Sydney Kay