GOVERNORS ISLAND
In 2019, I created paintings and a site-specific installation for Portal: Governors Island Art Fair. Under Here Somewhere was installed in Colonel’s Row in the study of an abandoned 1870s mansion that once housed military officers and their families.
UNDER HERE SOMEWHERE
I created a pristine white shell within the space – covering the windows and lighting the room with a pile of antique lamps. The old gramophone music was static and looped, repeating the same frayed melody. I made wounds in the sterile skin of the walls, instances where the white peeled back to reveal layers of bright torn paper. The furniture was tented in sheeting. The paintings referenced domestic ornamentation and family memories, but had morphed and taken on lives of their own after long periods of abandonment.
Some of the paintings, such as Your Name in Dust, reflected the room itself and included the mantle it hung on. There were two mirror pieces, Witness and The Ones Who Know Best, which showed us warped glimpses of those who passed by their glass in other eras. I Kept These For You was composed of found family photographs and antique frames that I altered with ink spills so that they began to grow together and lose their original faces.