Photos include images from The (Snow) Migrant, Passages: Tales of the (Snow) Migrant and the film version at OWU.
Passages: Tales of the (Snow) Migrant is at the Burton D. Morgan Gallery at the College of Wooster from September 3 through December 6, 2024. There will be a reception and artist's talk (with video) on September 10, 2024 starting at 4 pm. Here is a brief video survey of the show.
Passages is an extension of the (Snow) Migrant, with an emphasis on the perils encountered on the journey over water. These installations focus on the relationship between migration and climate change. Hollow boat forms are suspended near piles of sandbags, their swaying shadows drawn on the gallery floor, skeletons of migrant passages. The central video projection from The (Snow) Migrant remains, and together these elements use gesture and metaphor to explore the connection between migration and a changing climate. Here a dreamlike narrative is offered featuring a character who tries to navigate a frozen but melting world. A simple kayak is her insufficient transportation while an animated life preserver floats around her over the sandbags that hug the border walls. As a project it is focused on the idea of dangerous movement through time and space, finding a way through no way, embracing the arduous journey physically and emotionally. It is based in the concept that narratives we tell define our identity.
This project was prompted by two journeys. The first was to southern Chile, where I had the opportunity as an artist-in-residence to explore an ecological preserve and also fly over Cape Horn. I worked in the presence of ecologists and climatologists, who left southern Chile for expeditions to Antarctica. They spoke often about the melting glaciers that were causing water levels around the earth to rise. The other sojourn was a three month stay in Italy. Envisioning the migrant path through southern Italy into Europe was a daily reality, as migrants sold wares on the streets and stories of deaths during crossings of the Mediterranean were prevalent in the news.
These two experiences have come together in this piece. It combines concerns about the ever-present climate emergency with a focus on the human cost of that devastation. Through it I hope we will consider the human migrant and the migrating climate with empathy and action.
The performer in the video is Balinda Craig-Quijada, with whom I share concerns about the perils that migrants face. This collaboration has generated two more projects under this title. The first is a short experimental film, and the other is a group work choreographed for dancers at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA. My video scenography combines imagery from both the film and this installation at the Gund Gallery. The music for the dance project is by Charlotte Malin and is amplified by audio from various bodies of water that I have recorded, from the Indian Ocean to the Southern Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea.
Balinda Craig-Quijada is Professor of Dance at Kenyon College
Charlotte Malin is an independent composer based in Northampton, Massachusetts
This is a link to the artist's talk given on September 10, 2024
Passages is an extension of the (Snow) Migrant, with an emphasis on the perils encountered on the journey over water. These installations focus on the relationship between migration and climate change. Hollow boat forms are suspended near piles of sandbags, their swaying shadows drawn on the gallery floor, skeletons of migrant passages. The central video projection from The (Snow) Migrant remains, and together these elements use gesture and metaphor to explore the connection between migration and a changing climate. Here a dreamlike narrative is offered featuring a character who tries to navigate a frozen but melting world. A simple kayak is her insufficient transportation while an animated life preserver floats around her over the sandbags that hug the border walls. As a project it is focused on the idea of dangerous movement through time and space, finding a way through no way, embracing the arduous journey physically and emotionally. It is based in the concept that narratives we tell define our identity.
This project was prompted by two journeys. The first was to southern Chile, where I had the opportunity as an artist-in-residence to explore an ecological preserve and also fly over Cape Horn. I worked in the presence of ecologists and climatologists, who left southern Chile for expeditions to Antarctica. They spoke often about the melting glaciers that were causing water levels around the earth to rise. The other sojourn was a three month stay in Italy. Envisioning the migrant path through southern Italy into Europe was a daily reality, as migrants sold wares on the streets and stories of deaths during crossings of the Mediterranean were prevalent in the news.
These two experiences have come together in this piece. It combines concerns about the ever-present climate emergency with a focus on the human cost of that devastation. Through it I hope we will consider the human migrant and the migrating climate with empathy and action.
The performer in the video is Balinda Craig-Quijada, with whom I share concerns about the perils that migrants face. This collaboration has generated two more projects under this title. The first is a short experimental film, and the other is a group work choreographed for dancers at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA. My video scenography combines imagery from both the film and this installation at the Gund Gallery. The music for the dance project is by Charlotte Malin and is amplified by audio from various bodies of water that I have recorded, from the Indian Ocean to the Southern Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea.
Balinda Craig-Quijada is Professor of Dance at Kenyon College
Charlotte Malin is an independent composer based in Northampton, Massachusetts
This is a link to the artist's talk given on September 10, 2024