Purple

John Akomfrah, British, born 1957

Purple, 2017

Purple comes from an exhibition titled “Our World is Burning” or “Notre Monde Brule” in the Palais de Tokyo in Paris France. The exhibit was shut down for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic which perfectly adds to the message of Akomrah, in which the world is at a breaking point or a point of no return. The dramatized message is displayed from the overwhelming movie theatre view. Purple is the last room of the exhibition. The six screens act to represent the Anthropocene, displaying the various crisis in our world from displaying cruel Animal testing to a melting Mount Everest. The remarkable feature of this work is what should be said for the fact that humans will view these on six large screens from a dark museum in one of the largest cities in the world. As many criticisms mention the issue of placing too much value on to the aesthetics of ecological crisis, Akomfrah tries to combat this by creating an uncomfortable chaos. Playing loud noises of animals and natural disaster viewers are urged to feel unnerved and ready for action. Label by Annabel Bentley

Alicia’s Flatware

Tawnya Lively, American

Alicia’s Flatware, 2017

After her home was destroyed by the October 2017 fires, artist Tawnya Lively launched the “Firestorm Mosaic Project”. Taking broken tiles, kitchenware, and other objects recovered from house fires and refashioning them into mosaics Lively hopes to create new heirlooms out of the ashes of the old. While this began as a personal work of art, Lively has expanded the project, creating images for others, coordinating mosaic artists to complete their own projects, and even “hosting workshops for those who would like to make their own projects”. These pieces tell of the momentous personal and human cost of wildfires, but still create a beautiful work of art that can allow the owners to both remember and move forward from the fires. Label by Caitlin Blomo

Alicia’s Flatware by Tawnya Lively consists of a single dining set that is framed by broken pieces of china of the same style as the half broken cup and burnt plate in the center. The fork and spoon are made of now damaged silver; all of the pieces were salvaged from ashes in California after a wildfire. The pieces together make a full dining set for one person to have a meal, but they are now tattered and unusable. This creates a microcosm of the number of homes and lives that were lost to these wildfires by displaying one set of lonely dishes as if to display a lost meal. Label by Jordan Stofko

Benicia Hammer

Clifford Rainey, British, born 1948

Benicia Hammer, from the “Hand Tools” series, 2018

Glassmaker Clifford Rainey’s studio Napa studio was destroyed in the 2017 Atlas Fire. He lost his entire artistic archive and his studio equipment—his past and future. In an attempt to work through the emotional loss, he began creating artwork using debris from the fire. This triptych consists of a charred metal hammer head, a cast glass impression and a pencil drawing of the hammer.  Rainey’s work addresses the ghostly memory of the lost things we once held, in this case quite literally the burnt wooden handle. All that is left is the impression of it in the hollow glass cavity, rubbed with ashes from the fire. The remaining metal head is now ineffectual as a tool, so Rainey now uses it in a process of healing. For him, the absence of the artist’s hand tool reflects the loss of agency to establish identity, to ensure financial stability, and to create artistic legacy. Label by Kelly Conway

In this work, Rainey repurposes tools recovered from the rubble of California forest fires. The tools are placed in dialogue with both their former purpose and the fires that rendered them unusable. The blueprint like drawings that depict the tools in plain, practical form are interrupted by the smudge of ash. The glass cast of the tool captures the initial strength and form of the tool in space and time while also creating a sense of emptiness. Lastly, the incomplete section of the hammer on the left shows the charred nature of the actual tool. Each of these components of the work speaks to function and utility that has been decimated by the fires. Similarly to these tools, many individuals faced a loss of purpose and function in the wake of the fires. This work speaks to the remembrance of past purpose, while keeping in view the irreversible impact of the fires by demonstrating stark white depictions of the tools alongside the dark smudges and coatings of the burn. Label by Gwyneth McCrae

“What about Flint?”

Make:Art:Work, American

“What about Flint?”, 2016

The Detroit art collective, Make:Art:Work, created this neon sign as part of a Rube Goldberg kinetic installation organized across five American cities and regions: New Hampshire, Phoenix, Atlanta, Oakland and Detroit. In the project, titled Common Ground, each artist or collective had to design, fabricate, and film their part of the Rube Goldberg machine in coordination with the other cities. In Detroit, members of Make:Art:Work designed a series of fiery displays which culminated in explosion of a small house illuminated with this neon sign, “What about Flint?” The group’s machine was a direct commentary on art’s ability to destroy the institutions that have failed citizens. By challenging themselves to work across geographic boundaries, the various artists and makers of Common Ground connected through art, technology, and most importantly, by talking to each other. Label by Kelly Conway

Click here to see Common Ground’s Rube Goldberg in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?  v=WMrZ0HiRfOo