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Mutual Respect: Site Specific Intersections is the next phase of my work that has grown out of living in, researching, and uncovering narratives of diverse identities and histories in Wroclaw, Poland. This work is the intended focus of an upcoming sabbatical in 2016, and a Fulbright application for that period. With two sites as the focus of the project, this work connects the complex history and multiple identities of Wroclaw, Poland with the histories of women, activism, and faith in Rochester, New York. Artist books, layered images, and cross disciplinary intermedia work will be among the resulting works.
scanned medieval map, digital photographs, output to archival print media, 2013
scanned plans, google maps, text, output to archival digital print, 2013
This location, now a parking lot visible in the google map overlay, was once the site of the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau, Germany from the 1800s to 1938. The plans proposed in the underlying image were submitted during the Nazi occupation of the city and the building. It included plans to add toilets, sinks, and bathtubs, all in a baby blue (eyed) color. This document was viewed and scanned at the City Archives in Wroclaw, Poland in 2012.
scans of archival documents, digital photos, output to archival print, 2013
Layers of past and present on Wlodkowicza Street in Wroclaw, Poland. Taken across the street from the parking lot/seminary site. During it's time as Breslau, it was known as Walstrasse (Wall Street). A contemporary visitor identifies this area as the District of Mutual Respect, home to many houses of worship representing different faith, including the White Stork Synagogue. The district is also home to cafes, restaurants, and shops, a thriving area of the city in Wroclaw.
“At last Burchill quits here after 30 years service Jan 13, 1943 – Cheerio” is written neatly in pencil on the interior doorframe of a tiny closet by the butler upon his retirement – ironically, perhaps, right next to the doorknob. Covered in personal declarations, observations of the coming and going of employees and residents of the Perkin’s mansion from the 1930s to the present, this hidden written history reveals as much as it is concealed. To leave the notations (and to make photographic documentation of them) required the authors to conceal themselves in a very tight environment where vision is strained at best.
The results are documented in a life-size accordion fold artist book. Images here include photographic details inside the closet and a mock-up of the proposed book layout. Accompanying essays by colleagues Dr. Alisia Chase, Art Historian and Dr. Barb LeSavoy, Chair of Women and Gender Studies at the College at Brockport, State University of New York will provide context for this revealing history of class, gender, and family politics. Anticipated publication date: June 2015.
hanger inside the closet
layout of the book, assembled digital images, sculptural accordion fold book, approximate size 90 x 36", 2014
scanned medieval map, diploma from Jewish Theological Seminary (1857), digital photos, output to archival media, 2012
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