Wednesday, May 22, 2019

The River of Migration - KIND OF GREEN - Yi Gallery







KIND OF GREEN


Yi Gallery


191 Henry Street, NY NY 10002


June 1-11, 2019




Opening reception Saturday, June 1, 3-6 pm




NEW YORK - A group exhibition comprised of art and design works by Anne Katrine SenstadSi Jie LooJamie Martinez, and Studio Roosegaarde will be on view starting June 1st, 2019. Society is faced with climate change, pollution, rising sea levels, and massive ecologically driven migration. Many sustainable lifestyle theories advise people to “buy green,” invest in a “clean” car or only eat organic food. But is it wise to rely on consumerism to provide a solution to the very problems it has helped create? In this interdisciplinary exhibition, artists and designers think beyond “eco” art made from recycled materials or projects that simply paint an apocalyptic scene in order to address the urgent and ongoing ecological challenges the planet is faced with. The exhibition will be on view from June 1st to June 11th every day from 11am to 6pm at 191 Henry Street, New York, NY. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, June 1st from 3pm to 6pm.



The River of Migration


Single channel video



The first incarnation of Anne Katrine Senstad's memorial piece, The River of Migration, existed as a large outdoor light and land installation at Life is Art Foundation in 2010. The piece consisted of 72 solar-powered lights placed along a mountainside in Santa Rosa, CA. They formed a symbolic “human river” on what was historically Mexican land. Each of the 72 lights refers to a specific case where a person was brutally massacred by cartels after refusing to be used as a drug trafficker. Using light to create a memorial, Senstad illuminated the urgent migration issue with her symbolic river of light. The project honored the 72 nameless souls who died during the migration process and simultaneously spoke for all victims of migratory violence. The solar panel lights were lit from dusk till dawn, when most people cross borders illegally, and illustrated the very nature of the migratory action. The lights created a geographical mapping of the California landscape and served as a gestural, lyrical, and critical comment on migration policies, border wall politics, and the intensifying climate and political refugee crisis. Unnatural deaths of migrants are intimately connected to climate change and resource enclosures fueled by the growth of global wealth inequality.  It is critical to revisit this work today as it raises awareness of the new, and more elaborate, forms of human trafficking as a global business as well as the financial structures on which it capitalizes.