Present Absence: Icons from the Collection of the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute

Tuesday, February 3rd 2015 to Friday, May 29th 2015

In the ninth century, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nikephoros, wrote that icons make that which is absent present. This exhibition of sixteen icons, primarily 18th- and 19th-century works from the collection of the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute, explored the paradoxical nature of icons as embodiments of both material beauty and divine presence. 

Present Absence was curated by three Graduate Theological Union doctoral students – Yohana Junker, Amy Taylor, and Colette Walker -- as part of a seminar led by Dr. Rossitza Schroeder. The exhibition was made possible thanks to the support of Metropolitan Nikitas and the Patriarch Anthenagoras Orthodox Institute.

View the catalog created in conjuncture with the exhibition.