Traces: Imprints on the Natural World
June 10th, 2017
Averill Park, NY, United States
Wish You Were Here: Greetings from the Galapagos by Allison Maria Rodriguez
In her practice, Allison is consistently searching for methods and approaches that destabilize perceived ways of knowing and understanding the world. Her work at ALN includes a three-channel experiential video installation exploring climate change, species extinction and political agency that will be on exhibit. This piece navigates the unsteady terrain in between conservation and consumption, environmental advocacy and tourism, sustainability and exploitation. It intends to create an alternative space, providing the opportunity for an intimate moment that will ignite dialogue and encourage radical thinking about the current culture surrounding environmentalism.
There not There by Jessica Nichols
Jessica's work has lately been heading down an investigative road. She has been looking into social subjects at a national level, a local level, and also an individual level. Her work touches on topics that stem from her environment and research into our changing society, as well as from an internal, individual search for understanding oneself. There not There is a series of surrealist self portraits transferred onto raw wood materials sourced from ALN and surrounding environments. These photo-sculptures explore the human body in relation to spaces in nature, trying as we do, but inevitably failing to become one with the environment.
Pertinence by Zelé Angelides
Zelé is an artist from Johannesburg, South Africa. Her primary interest is to subvert the norms and values around women that are constructed and reinforced by Western main stream culture. For this body of work she has chosen to go back to traditional mark marking techniques. This series explores the taint of innocence, progression of pain which is learnt and stained in the female psyche derived from values and norms imposed onto the identity of woman. Initiating from a blank state of innocence at birth, through an evolution of circumstantial events which inflicts a tarnish which is held, transcended, transformed and manifests psychological histories which we then engage and react with in social discourse.
To talk for the angels by Agnès Aubague
For the last couple of weeks Agnès has been working closely with the birds in and around ALN's properties. Despite sensations of misunderstanding, her presence was accepted and her meeting with these American birds and their dialogue will be shown in video format. This film will be accompanied by a reading of her latest book Dictapoèmes Polyglottes I (in French, English, Spanish and language of birds). The book is composed from texts recorded with a dictaphone, and jumping from the alligator to the butterfly.
Flying Performance by Thomas Lanfranchi
Thomas deep interest in flying abstract volumes started already in the 90's. Since then he has traveled all over the world creating these majestic artifacts, solely made by scotch tape, plastic and nylon. The current object he is working on will flown in the air, surrounded by the beautiful scenery of Hidley Farm, and will be presented as a short film of this black form flying above the fields.
Film © Thomas Lanfranchi
Photography by Zelé Angelides