I visited the Days Later, Down River on a deceptively cold spring afternoon—the type of Chicago day where the sky is clear and a chill seems sharpened by the sun. I hurried to the gallery and pulled its front door to run from the wind on my back; as soon as I stepped in, the air behind me vanished as my eyes found Maia Cruz Palileo’s light installation. Bathed in this glow I found my body adjusting to a new warmth.
Light filters through the leaves and shadows grow long—the walls of the Monique Meloche Gallery are illuminated with the pearlescent gleam of a forest’s foliage as if a late afternoon sun has sunk into dusk. Entering Cruz Palileos’ solo exhibition, Days Later, Down River, one is immediately struck by an overwhelming calm met with wonder—I am now lost.
