In a tour de force, Jennifer Wen Ma welcomed discussion of her installation on opening night at the Halsey Gallery. Her compelling presence and the excitement created by the drama of the forest unfolding, layering of meaning on meaning made this exhibition worthwhile and certainly popular. The aesthetic qualities and craftsmanship of the exhibit, the western themes of paradise lost - dystopic and utopian images, together with a fusion of Asian culture – the ying and yang of existence, makes the discussion of our future relationship seem much less forbidding, threatening and more a moral statement of our time and the values we want to bring to the table.
Ms. Ma has developed an immersive, multi-sensory representation of a forest in cut paper. Using extremes of dark and light, she reflects on the social culture the Carolina Lowcountry in the multi-level dynamism of its landscape in black and white cut paper. The forest that not only surrounds you in the air and brushes you as you walk past, but it moves and pulsates under foot as the forest groundcover moves in and out by sensors. The paper canopy and floor surrounds the visitors and invade their personal space. The forest, like the social culture of the city is unavoidable and forces us to reach into the confusing and hidden recesses of our own consciousness to reflect meaningfully about the culture of this place, the inherent racial divide that seems endemic here. One external landscape impinges on everyone’s internal one.
This is more than an artistic representation however. As part of the work, there is a table set in one room representing the ongoing discussions to follow. Sitting together, eating, free flowing thoughts … these can frequently set up the conditions for meaningful discussions. Three luncheons are planned with members of the community. These affairs will be accompanied by a collaborative performance by musician, dancer, or poet related to the importance of food, nature, and our relationship with the environment. These luncheons will focus on specific themes – Land Issues and the politics of place (June 22); re-entering society after incarceration (June 29); food quality, nutritional value, safety, availability, access, and humanitarian and environmental aspects of food (July 6). Seeing the unhealthy effects of our civilization on the earth, the imposition of racial divides, the coming environmental crises…these are all food for thought for these luncheons. Perhaps art can literally set the table for further elaboration and understanding.
From my perspective as a landscape architect, planner and preservationist, this installation is an important step forward. The problems that we face in reconciling ourselves to a new and threatening future environment need to be openly addressed and portrayed, talked about, and new directions tried. The triple bottom line of sustainability – environment, society, and economy - are all interwoven here and the forest is a perfect metaphor for their airing. Finally, the exhibition itself was perhaps limited by its setting in talking about the most important aspect of a forest – that is, its roots. The interconnections, intercommunication, intermingling of this out-of-sight, but wholly causative, aspect of the forest is played out instead in these conversations as she attempts to discover those ties and reveal those interdependencies. Let us hope that these luncheons will become the metaphorical roots of future forest growth of our much prized lowcountry.
James Ward with assistance of Gayle Goudy, 5/22/2019
Comments