Meredith Starr and Dayna Leavitt

Artists Meredith Starr and Dayna Leavitt studied together at New York University in the late 1990s.

Dayna is a photographer based in London who also works in fashion.

Her independent practice reflects an evolution of a theme in observations and voyeurism, collections and repetition.

Meredith is an interdisciplinary artist who lives and works in New York as a professor. Meredith’s practice explores collections of materials, and incorporates analog processes such as assemblages, and incorporates technology such as VR.

Together, their collaborative work incorporates digital photography and collage. “Our conversations over text messages share our daily and mundane experiences and have become the source material, which initially began as a way to stay connected during lockdown. The title of the series references the question we ask each other most, and the titles of the digital collages incorporate snippets of our texts. The images are trace evidence of our virtual conversations - an ambiguous reflection of observations that blur where one ends and the other begins. We share with each other where we’ve been, and tiny studies of corners at home that would otherwise seem banal.

As we navigate forced distance and a time difference, exploration of these themes create a constructed alternate reality. Our manipulated photographs reflect fabricated memories that simulate a shared experience, allowing us to invent an escapist, imagined space where we both co-exist.”

Recently, the duo were featured at the Target Gallery in Virginia and Gallery 440 in Brooklyn, New York, along with several virtual exhibitions, including the Holy Art Gallery in London. Future plans for their project include a production of a Virtual Reality experience that will include a sound collage as an extension of their photo collage process.