WE'RE ALL STRANGERS HERE at EMP Collective

From EMP's event write-up:

Our latest gallery show, We're All Strangers Here, opens Friday, June 27th. 

Inner worlds collide into extraterrestrial landscapes as artists create new terrains to be interpreted, reinterpreted, and to get lost in. 

We're All Strangers Here features the installation works of Gina Alexandra Denton, April Camlin, Hoesy Corona, Nikki Painter, Lisa Krause, and Laure Drogoul. 

This show is organized by curator Sara Barnes and EMP Artistic Director, Carly J. Bales. 

EMP Collective  *  307 West Baltimore Street  *   Baltimore, MD 

Opening night: June 27, 7-10PM   Closing Event: Friday, July 25, 7-9PM

"Relics of a Disappearing World"

Detail

Eamon and I wheat-pasting during installation

Gina Denton

April Camlin

Laure Drogoul

Hosey Carona

Nikki Painter

Shrine for D

Recently, I was walking some dogs in the woods that are near the neighborhood where I first lived when I moved to Baltimore. I suddenly remembered the last time I went there.

It was 2008, I was led by two little boys that I knew from the art program that I was teaching that summer in the neighborhood. One was nearly mute when I met him. At the point we were at that day- he was the bold leader while his older cousin was scared and decided to meet up with us later. I walked into the woods with the then 8 year-old boy, listening to him talk about his father.

He led me through the woods for quite a while to the spot where his father's body was dumped after he was shot earlier that year. His father was 3 years younger than me. His body was severely decomposed and had to be DNA tested to determine his identity. This was a huge confusing concept for the boys. They'd grown obsessed with watching the dead rats in the neighborhood rot away in the alleys. I assume it functioned as part of a folk-science that happens in childhood, when you need an explanation for abstract or terrifying things. They asked me many questions that summer, and their voices still haunt me sometimes.

I also remembered that the boy's father's body was found by a man walking dogs, and it reminded me that I am not so safe in the woods here. I remember that day and how much fun I had with those boys after we left the site- climbing trees, hiking around, and throwing rocks in the stream. I remember how one of the boys asked me if I was remembering my childhood, and how hard I hoped that day that they were forgetting their adulthood.

At the end of that summer I did an installation about what it was like to be with them in those months. It was my first shrine and I called it Prayer for Innocence. I no longer have it, but I guess being back in the woods in that area brought all the memories back to me clearly. I needed to put them somewhere so I made this one.

I've seen the little boy a few times in passing over the years since moving away, and he's gradually forgotten me. His stare is cold, and his look is hard. I am scared for him.

Amulets

In the last few years I've been doing research on shrines and amulets. Then I use things I've found and collected in my own projects that are inspired by my research. Last year I made 30 each of three types of amulets to give everyone that met us in the desert last fall, and for some reason I didn't take any pictures of my process. I am making new ones now and documented them here.

The symbolism in these amulets is sourced from practices in place for protection of travelers and people in transition throughout African, Asian, Eastern European, Mediterranean, Mexican, Middle Eastern, and Native American Cultures.

I combined those different symbols into my own super-amulet.

As part of the packaging, I include keys to the symbolism:

BLUE BEAD: sky/sea, turquoise, maintains harmony (Mediterranean/Middle Eastern)

EYE: one of the most powerful protectors against evil, blue eye stares back at the unseen evil eye meant to harm (Italy/Greece/Turkey/Uzbekistan)

TANGLES/LABYRINTH: confuse or catch evil spirits & dreams and they loose their way (N. American Indian/Finland)

TREES/TWIGS: regrowth (Europe/Middle East/ Asia)

TRIANGLES: amulets made for travelers are crudely stitched and protect from illness and the evil eye (Egypt)

FEATHERS: guide good dreams and ensnare bad. they move through the air and thus connect the human and spirit world. (N. American Indian)

RED: blood of life, most potent force against evil, confronts darkness with a blaze of sun and light (Eastern Europe/Russia)

RED THREAD: tied to anyone in a transitional phase of life (Greece/Bulgaria)

RESIN/CLOVES: strong smells repel evil spirits (almost everywhere)

*----------------------*

These type of Amulets were part of the art show C A R T in July 2011 at Current Gallery. The idea behind the show was to turn the gallery into some kind of art mini-mart.

Andrew Liang made a special display for them on the wall to the left of the register, next to Eamon Espey and Andrew's chalkboard mural. Monique Crabb took these two pictures of things I put in the show.

Pocket Shrines and Spirits

I made small warrior magnets as well as some shrines that house them especially for a few important women in my life.

Jen

Brigid

Brittany

Warriors and Kachina Dancers

I came up with a base to make the dancers and warriors free-standing.

Forum of 40 Champions- Curated by Gary Kachadourian

Forty champions, each possessing a special power, have been invited to create a warrior to enter the Minstallation Gallery and face the special powers of their peers.

Minstallation Gallery
Creative Alliance at The Patterson
3134 Eastern Ave. Baltimore, MD
Closing Reception, Saturday, April 10, 5-7pm
February 27 – April 10, 2010





Curated by Gary Kachadourian
Installation and Logo Design by Eamon Espey
Sound by Witch Hat
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=300706996682&ref=mf


I used this project as an opportunity to expand on my warriors that I had been making before. I added to the original 2 and made a bunch more. As with my shrines, I've been using stuff I pick up walking around. In this case some things include shells, seeds, stones, ground turquoise, cardinal bones, a humming bird's head, prize-winning chickens' feathers, and hair from rabbits, deer, and dog.

Shrines

I've been making small shrines from things I pick up while walking around the city as part of my job. I collect whatever looks interesting and bring them back to my workspace where I file them by color family in clear containers. I then use these things to construct small assemblages in little paper houses. I find I am enjoying the process because it's kind of like flower arranging, but also because I am making amulets out of trash- I am searching for something sacred and beautiful every day.