Chronotope is a literary term used to describe the link between time and space in language. In my cut-paper installation by the same name, I explore the interconnection between time and space in memory. Chronotope looks to my own memory – to some of the most poignant moments in my past, to memories that reside at a preverbal level, retrieved only as fleeting glimpses. Without verbal recall, corroboration by others, or a place in the linear narrative of my life, these memories appear unpredictably in my consciousness. Powerful yet elusive, they seem to fuse past and present, time and space. 

To organize marks and construct space in the hanging paper sheets of Chronotope, I turn to these memories. I seek to evoke the emotion and psychological state associated with them and the lucid yet dreamlike awareness that marked the moments in which they were born. Through the progression, repetition, and layering of passages of cut marks, I create spaces that appear to crystallize on the verge of dissolving, suggesting the persistent yet slippery quality of memory. 

Jennifer Caine received a BA cum laude in Studio Art and Mathematics from Dartmouth College in 2000 and an MFA in Painting from Boston University in 2005. Her work includes paintings, prints, drawings, and artist books and has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Recent solo exhibitions were held at Soprafina Gallery, Boston, MA, The Strauss Gallery, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, and Guerilla Arts, Dallas, TX. Other recent exhibition venues include the National Academy Museum, New York, NY; The Painting Center, New York, NY; The Hunstville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL; 808 Gallery, Boston University, Boston, MA; FPAC Gallery, Boston, MA; Ice Cube Gallery, Denver, CO; Jewett Gallery, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA; The Carillon Gallery, Tarrant County College, Fort Worth, TX; and ArtSpace, Maynard, MA. 

Caine is the recipient of many awards, including the Constantin Alajalov Award at Boston University, the 2008 Dartmouth Alumni Lecture Award, and the Helen Figge Moss Memorial Award. She has been selected for inclusion in the forthcoming book, 100 Boston Painters published by Schiffer Publishing. Caine currently teaches at Dartmouth College where she is the Area Head of Painting and Drawing. Prior to joining the faculty at Dartmouth she taught at Boston University from 2005-2010, and she has been a visiting artist at many colleges including: Providence College, Providence, RI, Lyme Academy College of Art, Old Lyme, CT, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.