Space For Greta, 2019
This is my studio that I have transformed into a place. It is dedicated to Greta Thunberg, the young climate activist from Sweden. I have been making and remaking the space since November 2019.
There is a shelf holding raw wool that I collected from barbed wire fences in the Highlands of Scotland. There are images of plants and animals as I am trying to understand interspecies relationships. There is an altered photograph of one of my mentors, and an homage to Andre Masson.There are two ceramic rabbits hanging in the space. They were made in response to terracotta Japanese Haniwa figures (300 bce), which were used for ritual and buried with the dead. This place, "For Greta", is made to honor vitality, resilience and passing away.
Some of the animal drawings are made in response to Andre Masson's illustration for Georges Bataille's, 1931 essay, The Solar Anus. There are many penis's as I am exploring fertility and violence.
The light grey text says "glory to protection from this building". I wrote it during a powerful wind storm. There are many fragments of text in the space that express gratitude. The blue shape represents abundant fruit. The solid red shape (a portion) is my symbol for a tank, which also looks like a cooking pot. I have been drawing this tank/cooking pot shape for 16 years. It began with an investigation into the middle east conflict and my Jewish identity. Most work from my past was made to undo inherited ideas about the world. I was raised by a racist Zionist and over time I found a way to reject that bias and come to peace and replace shame with acceptance.