PARTICIPANT INC presents UNDEAD, a solo exhibition consisting of two recent bodies of work by John Jurayj. Untitled (Family Baggage) is a series of sculptures that addresses emotional loss and public anxiety, taking as its starting point pieces of luggage that the artist’s parents used when traveling through the Middle East in the 1960s. Cast in black plaster and gunpowder, the method of fabrication leaves flaws suggesting passage and disruption, while the choice of material implies aggressive potential, reflective of current concerns. The same piece of luggage, a trunk, is cast numerous times, eluding mimesis in favor of a sequence of iterations. These ‘ghost objects,’ in their evocation of tombstones or memorials, maintain an aura that belies the optimism implicit in their original era, a time when international travel held the promise of sophistication, sex appeal, and mobility for the aspirant middle class of the ‘60s.