Brooklyn Utopias: Along the Canal

April 10 – June 26, 2022 / OFFSITE INSTALLATION AT THE OLD STONE HOUSE

This collaboration for the Brooklyn Utopias exhibition at the Old Stone House, curated by Katherine Gressel, includes artifacts from the Hall of Gowanus, a community-curated collection gathered during walks along the canal. 

“Things Reveal” by Sasha Chavchavadze

Interpreting the past can be a catalyst for change in a utopian community. Artifacts can reveal important lost narratives, or toxic systems of gender, class and race that must be reckoned with. My assemblage of mixed media art and Gowanus artifacts expresses fragmentation, loss and survival as I observe the demolition of the neighborhood I have lived and worked in for thirty years.

“A New Face” by Karen Mainenti

Each compact opens to reveal an image of oysters, clams, or mussels—highlighting the creatures that once thrived in the harbor before becoming functionally extinct due to pollution. I imagine a utopia in which the discarded items of our environment have a second life as a refuge for some of the neighborhood’s most vulnerable inhabitants.