Serein

As a child, Mac witnessed a rare atmospheric event called a "serein" after sleepwalking onto his great aunt’s patio in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He remembered opening his eyes to see the light of dawn reflect off of the atmosphere before the sun had crested the ocean’s horizon. Up above was a starlit sky. Suddenly, the stars started to fall. First dozens, then thousands of them. Starlight washed over everything he saw.

The view from St. Thomas

For many years, Mac thought he had imagined that experience. It seemed too fantastical of a thing to have been real. Then one day, while waiting in line at the circulation desk of his high-school library, he flipped through the old dictionary to learn new words. That was when he saw the word and definition for “serein,” and suddenly he had access and ownership of that memory in a way he had never felt before. That discovery inspired Mac’s lifelong exploration of the values we develop through experience, relationships, and meaning.

Mac’s Serein series of paintings are an exploration of the interplay between memory, language, experience, and meaning. To create each piece, Mac took articles and reference materials he uncovered about sereins from around the world, and paired them with his own journal reflections on the experience. “These paintings represent both the relief of my subconscious, and a renewed interest in the role that language plays in our lives,” says Mac. “How many things do we deny ourselves simply through lack of language?”

The Serein series was displayed at Noah’s Restaurant in Mac’s 2005 solo show, and sold out immediately. This experience served as a powerful affirmation for Mac about the power of art to understand and heal ourselves, and through that experience, empower others to do the same for themselves.