in tART zine Vol. 3, 2011, theme of
"home"

zine Room as part of tART Year 8,
Arts@Renaissance, 2011

in addition to making above images for the zine, I extended an Open Call on theme of "home" to a neighboring shelter for men. One person responded, Michael Wilson - artist and client - and he did his own interpretation as the members of tART had done theirs. His work developed into an installation that we presented together at the closing event for the exhibition.

video by damali abrams on presentation
at closing

Model Home, curated by Nico Wheadon.
Swedish Housing #1, Roger Smith Hotel
Gallery, New York, NY, 2010

Swedish Housing, 2009, are diptychs of interiors from a visit to my aunt's first and last residences in Sweden. Moving there in her 20's, a textile industrialist provided her employment and a maid's room inside his home - where his descendants now run a Bed & Breakfast. The Swedish government provided her the assisted living apartment that was her home at the time of her death. I chose to juxtapose the two places in order to reflect on traces of the living and the dead, the intermingling of public and private spheres and the mirroring of the two places.

Swedish Housing #1

#4

#5

#9

Narrator discussing Mad Housers  

In "Faceless Portrait," 2007, a memorial text of 63,000 words is based on a personal experience that took place in the early 1990's. A handwritten index on one wall refers to the adjoining wall's text that is printed on vellum. The text portrays the chance encounter and symbiotic relationship between an intense storyteller, who is slipping into homelessness, and a silenced but active listener.

link to Mad Housers

I am currently preparing a collaboration with Mad Housers - a group of activist architects discussed by the text's Narrator - that will combine my installation with the group's huts for the homeless.

The Narrator's voice is one of of
chronic resistance, cravings, curiosity
and gallows humor - expressing a
conviction that as bad as any situation
is, nothing prevents it from spinning
further out of control. The critique is
multi-directed: at system,
counter-system, social circle, self and
listener. Meaning is found in continued
engagement and moments of tenderness.

excerpt, Running Away  

excerpt, Child Welfare Worker  

excerpt, Manual Laborer in New England  

excerpt, Nth Injury  

excerpt, Europe on Crutches  

excerpt, Mental Health Center  

excerpt, Unemployed & Homeless