Here and After
A collaborative exhibition by Matel Rokke & Hannah Demma

Opening Reception: First Friday, April 4, 2025
On View: April 4 – May 24, 2025
Location: Petshop Gallery, 2725 N. 62nd St., Omaha, NE

Exhibition Statement

What does it mean to hold onto loss? How do we talk about—or avoid—death and the afterlife?

Here and After is a collaborative exhibition by Matel Rokke and Hannah Demma, exploring themes of grief, memory, and the unknown. Through handmade paper, deep cyanotypes, layered drawings, and mixed-media sculptures, they create a visual dialogue reflecting the complex, shifting nature of loss.

This body of work was created through an ongoing exchange between the two artists, layering materials and ideas in response to one another—mirroring the way grief moves through us in waves, shaping and reshaping our understanding of absence. Fragile yet enduring, these works invite viewers to engage, reflect, and consider their own relationships with memory and loss.

Here and After opens on First Friday, April 4, 2025, at Petshop Gallery in Benson and remains on view through May 24, 2025.

About the Artists

Hannah Demma is a multimedia artist specializing in papermaking. She holds an MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2022) and has received numerous accolades, including multiple Best in Show awards and the Mayor’s Art Award (2018). She currently works as a papermaker at Constellation Studios, an Artist Liaison for the Lux Center for the Arts, and will be the 2025 Artist-in-Residence at the Cornhusker Marriott Hotel in Lincoln, NE.

Matel Rokke is a photographer working with historical and digital processes to explore themes of family, memory, and collections. She holds an MFA from Hartford Art School (2004), and her work has been exhibited nationally, including in New York, Connecticut, and Minnesota. She is currently faculty at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha and co-owner of Tsuru Boutique in Lincoln.