Delaware artist Shefon N. Taylor explores memory and identity in new collage exhibit

The Mezzanine Gallery in Wilmington has unveiled a powerful new exhibition by Delaware artist Shefon N. Taylor, whose mixed-media collages delve into the complex terrain of memory, beauty, and cultural identity.

Titled “The Fragment Holds More Than the Whole,” the solo show runs through May 30 and opened with a public reception on May 2.

Taylor, known for her innovative use of archival material, reimagines traditional concepts of wholeness and restoration through what she calls “archival abstraction.”

Using found imagery from vintage books and magazines, tracing paper, and thread, her work challenges how memory and history are visually and culturally preserved.

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“This body of work interrogates the visual archive’s limitations and its entanglement with Black history and beauty,” Taylor said. “By working with fragments—partial, severed, obscured—I aim to honor the spaces where meaning survives outside of traditional notions of wholeness. Fragmentation isn’t failure; it’s a different kind of remembering.”

Inspired by author Toni Morrison’s idea of “rememory”—the act of reconstructing personal and collective memory—Taylor’s collages emphasize the power of the partial and the unseen.

Rather than piecing fragments back into a neat whole, her compositions highlight what remains unresolved, inviting viewers to reflect on what is left out of official narratives.

One of the exhibition’s signature pieces, “A fragment of ‘She touched my shoulder like she knew me’,” embodies Taylor’s poetic approach to materials.

Layers of fragile paper and stitched lines intersect around a single moment, simultaneously intimate and elusive.

Taylor’s work has appeared in national outlets including “Essence,” “Grazia,” and “Harper’s Bazaar,” and she has held fellowships at The Delaware Contemporary and The Winterthur Museum.

The Mezzanine Gallery, located in the Carvel State Office Building at 820 N. French Street, is open to the public Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It regularly features exhibitions from Delaware’s Individual Artist Fellows.

For more information about the artist, click here.