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Exhibitions: Geographies of the Invisible Line: Uprooted

The installation Uprooted, in process.

Project Uprooted, 2018 

an installation and performance as part of the 

2018 Summer Artists in Residence
Building Bridges Art Exchange

Exhibition: "Geographies of the Invisible Line"
Davis Birks: USA, Mexico 
Doris Schamp, a.k.a. La Razzia: Austria 
Luciana Abait: Argentina, Los Angeles

Curator: Marisa Caichiolo

Artist Reception: September 8, 2018
Exhibition: September 8 - October 1, 2018
Building Bridges Art Exchange, Santa Monica, CA, USA

During a three-week residency at Building Bridges Art Exchange in Santa Monica, CA, artists Doris Schamp, a.k.a. La Razzia, from Austria; Luciana Abait, originally from Argentina living in LA; and I were asked to venture beyond the comfort zone of our practice as visual artists to create works related to the theme of displacement.

Though working on separate projects, we met each morning to discuss our progress, collaborating with ideas and suggestions. Through this collaboration our work was empowered, ultimately resulting in stronger results. 

Project Uprooted was for me an opportunity to get a tentative sense of what it might be like for someone who had lost their home, and also face personal fears. What kind of shelter could I build for myself with what was around me? How could I make money outside the system?

I built an improvised home in the gallery space and organized a small cottage industry. 

For my home I used resources at hand. I first searched the gallery’s storage area and from there out to the streets, alleyways and garbage bins of the neighborhood for furnishings. I also asked friends for things I needed and for help getting it to the gallery. On the wall above my "home", I painted a floor plan of a simple house as a possible reference to a home lost, or the desire for a stable home in the future. 

I made money from the sale of small plants (The plants were also symbolic of the desire of finding roots in a new home). 

I was curious to compare the results between a standard business model and the strategy of a person living on the street. This culminated in a two act performance at Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles (DTLA). As a homeless person, I took clippings from plants in the neighborhood and replanted them in cut-out containers I found in garbage bins. I sat on the pavement dressed as a homeless man and sold the plants while displaying two hand-lettered cardboard signs. In contrast, as the business-man, I bought plants at a reduced price and sold them at a higher price, presenting myself in a business suit accompanied by an assistant at a well-organized table with plants, posters, promotional stickers, flyers and tote bags, all sheltered under a canopy.

In both cases proceeds were collected for UNHCR refugee programs.

The staff at Building Bridges Art Exchange continued collecting donations for the extent of the exhibition.

...A very special thank you to Marisa Caichiolo, Doris Schamp, Luciana Abait, and the BBAX team who made this experience a joy to be a part of. 

Uprooted: Installation, 2018

Installation process

Uprooted: Installation, 2018

Installation process

Uprooted: Installation, 2018

Installation process

Residency Program, 2018
Building Bridges Art Exchange

Several times a week we would  meet to discuss our progress.

Left to right: AnneMarie León - apprentice from the Broad Museum, Davis Birks, Marisa Caichiolo - curator, Doris Schamp, Luciana Abait

Uprooted, cottage industry
2018

Found containers were used for plants as part of the cottage industry.

Uprooted: Installation and Cottage Industry, 2018 

Visitors at the Uprooted installation and selling table where plants were exchanged for donations to the UNHCR.

Uprooted: Performance: Act II 

Pershing Square, Los Angeles, CA, USA, September 6, 2018

Uprooted: Performance: Act I

Pershing Square, Los Angeles, CA, USA, September 6, 2018

Uprooted: Installation, 2018

This chair I found for the installation in the alleyways of Santa Monica. 

Uprooted: Installation, 2018

Books were graciously loaned from the Santa Monica Public Library covering a range of themes: the war in Syria, doll houses, how to beat the system, life as a homeless, life as a refugee, dream homes, etc.

Uprooted: Installation, 2018

As part of the Installation, drawers from a dresser were filled with keys, small change, and maps. 

The keys represent the homes refugees and homeless would never return to. The small change makes reference to positive steps taken to improve the present condition. The maps in the last drawer mark routes to desired destinies. 

Uprooted: Installation, Performance Video and Cottage Industry, 2018

Students and their teacher, Jennifer Joyce, from the John Adams Middle School of Santa Monica, CA, return for a second visit with their own work in response to the exhibition.