La vie is like that is part of the collection of books in consideration for the Volumes Award 2024. If you have a moment check out the books and cast a vote:
Link: https://www.volumeszurich.ch/collection/volumes-award-2024
Election Uncertainty and an image from The Moon & Stars on NY Times Opinion
I was hoping to post this yesterday but here we are and this feels even more timely and depressingly helpful. An image from The Moon & Stars Can Be Yours was used for Dr. Gary Greenberg’s essay for the NY Times Opinion section. Many thanks to Jessie Wender at the New York Times.
Take care during this difficult week and beyond.
The Nature of Cities feature, excerpt from A Tree Grows in Queens
An excerpt from A Tree Grows in Queens was published this week on the website The Nature of Cities. The excerpt pulls from two chapters, Pink Dogwood and American Elm, and includes an introduction to the origins of the project. The piece can be read at the following link: https://www.thenatureofcities.com/2024/10/30/a-tree-grows-in-queens/
A Tree Grows in Queens, new publication with Conveyor Editions!
My newest publication with Conveyor Editions, designed by Christina Labey, is being released in time for the NYABF and Arbor Day. A Tree Grows in Queens reflects on the many ways in which trees manifest into other things - myths, memes, monuments and more. Telling the stories of ten trees found in NYC (from the Harlem Wishing Tree to a Tulip tree considered the city’s oldest) the book explores topics from climate catastrophe and zombie capitalism to the radical power of touch and the place of memory making. Book available through Conveyor Editions here.
La vie is like that published by Seaton Street Press, NYABF launch
I am incredibly excited to announce the publication of La vie is like that with independent publisher Seaton Street Press. La vie is like that takes its inspiration from the philosophical thought experiment 'The Ship of Theseus,' which reflects on the concept of the persistence of identity - if every part of an object is replaced over time is it the same object? La vie … explores the connection between language and identity. The work, in text and risograph images, touches upon themes of change, immigration, connection, dementia, loss, speech, love, and humor. The book is structured as an alphabet primer (A is for Aphasia... E is for Emerson... U is for Umzug) that blends languages - reflecting my father's combinations of French, Creole, and English, as well as my own study of German. The book will be available for purchase at the Seaton Street Press table (C19) at this year’s NYABF (April 25-28). I will be signing copies Sunday April 28th from 2-4pm.
The Dry Garden on view in Maribor, Slovenia
The Dry Garden is on view as part of the Maribor Photobook Award 2023 exhibition at the Maribor Art Gallery in Slovenia, organized by The Angry Bat DEZ - Association for European Consciousness.
Artist Talk at CPW
On October 12th I had the immense pleasure to speak about work in progress alongside Lindsay Buchman from Seaton Street Press. The talk was filmed and archived over on CPW’s site.
Tree News Issue 4
This weekend, Sept 9 + 10, marks the release of issue 4 of Tree News produced by Erin Mallea and Paper Buck at the Pittsburgh Art Book Fair. I had the immense pleasure of speaking with Erin about A Tree Grows in Queens, herbaria, and working with archives. The issue also includes an interview with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Curator of Botany, Mason Heberling. They’ll be tabling at the Carnegie Museum of Art and will have copies of The Dry Garden as well as a special edition postcard set of images from A Tree Grows in Queens.
A Tree, A Garden at Antenna
My solo show, A Tree, A Garden, opens in New Orleans at Antenna on February 11, 2023. The show will be on view until March 26th. A corresponding publication, The Dry Garden, is available from Antenna Press.
A Tree, A Garden reflects on the many ways in which trees manifest into other things, from memorials and myths to memes, markers, and meeting points.The exhibition brings together two research projects that explore the place of trees in our understanding of the world. Inspired by trees found both in old-growth forests and on city streets, A Tree Grows in Queens incorporates a collection of written vignettes, archival images, and original photographs to explore how narratives of trees have touched on the larger topics of climate, capitalism, catastrophe, and compassion. The Dry Garden, an installation of cyanotype prints and a publication, is composed of reimagined archival material from herbaria, where plants are dried and stored for scientific purposes. The imagery transformed into shades of blue and white is influenced by Anna Atkins’ Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, the first book of photographs ever published. The work reconsiders archival histories and explores how narrative can act as a riposte to plant blindness, encouraging more empathetic relationships with our natural surroundings.
A Glass of Cry published in Passing Notes Issue 2
I wrote a piece, A Glass of Cry, on language, fear, shame, and the surprises of auto translate. It’s included in the second issue of Passing Notes, available here via this link.
Take What You Can't Get at ABC No Rio
I had the pleasure of creating the exhibition publication for Take What You Can’t Get at ABC No Rio.
Inspired by the role of artists as imaginators, and agitators, from the 1930s to the present day, Take What You Can't Get embraces our current moment of multilayered crisis (economic, racial justice, leadership, health) as an opportunity for artists to actively imagine a more desirable future. The exhibition's title addresses pre-existing artworld expectations of austerity and extreme inequality - that artists and art workers must take what they can get. The four projects, by three collectives and one artist, respond to the following questions: What do artists and art workers need now? What does our NYC community need now (and how can artists help)? What should we demand of our institutions - art or government? What does a more beautiful future look like? Projects take place both on-line and in New York City throughout the duration of the exhibition. Curated by Christina Freeman.
This is a link to the online interactive version of the publication.
Common Knowledge - Design in Times of Information Crisis at Kunstgewerbemuseum
Whole Queens Catalog will be on view this summer as part of Common Knowledge - Design In Times of Information Crisis, at Kunstgewerbemuseum in Dresden, Germany. The exhibition, a traveling version of the Bio 26 Design Biennial in Ljubljana, Slovenia opens July 4 and runs until November 1, 2020.
