The University of Mary Washington Galleries is pleased to present the solo exhibition Joana Stillwell: the scent of rose as it was described to me.

Joana Stillwell is an internationally exhibited artist born in the Philippines, raised around the Pacific, and currently based in Washington, DC. In her work as both an artist and archivist, Stillwell considers the roles of memory and perception, asking what stories get to be told, who gets to tell those stories, and what ultimately gets preserved. Using digital and material fragments, she investigates the collapse of virtual and physical spaces, as well as the growing overlap between memories, lived environments, and digital interfaces.

In her most recent work, the scent of rose as it was described to me, Stillwell incorporates personal mementos, along with adopted images and ephemeral fragments, to navigate screen-mediated intimacy in her family archive.