Social
identification through the representation of shifting geographical
neighborhoods is evident in No Native
New Yorker by Rory Donaldson.
A
project, inspired by protective car covers, where shifting colors of thread
embroider a map which traces the mutation of identity within the city.
An
accompanying video documents the covered car’s journey through
the
diverse neighborhoods of Manhattan. The historical gender identification
of the embroidery medium is challenged whilst redefining the traditional
associations in scale, representation and politics. Wealth
of Water expands
the mapping reference to include all the inland water ways in New York
State,
specifically the rivers and constructed trade canals that were built
to connect
the Great Lakes, at Oswego, to New York City.
A continual shift through time plays a key role in viewing a collaborative
work
between Donaldson and Post that utilizes the changing spectrum of light
between
day and night. By day Always on
the Horizon consists of a suspended curtain of
white fabric containing an embroidered bridge scene. Hanging in front
of a wall of
windows, the piece is seen as a silhouette drawing during the early
daylight hours,
which fades with the light to becomes a white on white embroidery as
the gallery
lights become more dominant from in front of the work. By night the
piece transforms
into a two sided screen for the after-hours video projection Sombra
by Linda Post.
The collaboration encompassing not only the transition between day
and night but
also the parallel transfer of ownership.
