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"SOMETHING HAPPENED HERE" Indoor Installation by Jin Jung
My first impression of 'Something Happened Here' was 'thought-provoking'. I wasn't entirely sure what I was looking at until I started to interact with and read the text in the installation. In doing so, not only did I learn much about some of the major historical events that happened in the neighborhood, but I found myself appreciating the art for what it was. It's tall, much taller than me, and has a mural of local shrubbery with, what I assume to be, the Hudson River in the background. A local map with points of interest labelled hangs on the left side of the mural, and 9 dark blue plaques hang on the wall beside the map, breaking up the greenery of the mural it hangs in. Each plaque, aside from the first one, indicates a point in time and either a point of interest or an individual who has historical significance to the neighborhood. On the table in front of this art piece is another 3D house fixture with a spinning word cylinder and a roof that conceals a mirror. The word cylinder, which I interact with, completes the statement that is plastered on the side of the house, "Are we what we_?"
While I personally don't create works with such heavy research material, I always find art like this enlightening and engaging. Something is enriching about looking at something that is visually appealing while also learning about your neighborhood, facts that I otherwise would have never known about.
"Appropriation Bag-The Plight of the Black Woman I" Multimedia Sculpture by Cheryl R. Riley
The first time I saw this piece, I thought it was a designer bag. It felt like it was made with an eclectic sort of theme, and at first, it looked like leather. But the closer I looked, I realized it was a collage piece on a paper bag, and the collage extended to the interior of the bag. On the exterior, a variety of black women are placed right in front of the audience's eyes, while the interior has a collage of white women plastered everywhere. There are decorative patterns and texts written in gold, adding an eye-catching touch to the piece as a whole. I thought about what this might mean, and I got the impression that it was a commentary on the social expectations or responsibilities of black women and white women, respectively. Black women have historically been at the forefront of many progressive movements in the United States, protecting communities that are often targeted for one social reason or another. Not to say that white women haven't also pushed for progress, but it is important to understand that there's also a protected status that they automatically receive that is not naturally given to black women. These were just some of my immediate thoughts. (I'm taking women's history this semester, and it's very enlightening.)
I was able to make it to the opening ceremony and listen to Cheryl R. Riley speak about how the creation of this piece came to be. I was very familiar with the sudden strike of inspiration and the need to quickly put one's efforts into bringing that streak of inspiration to life. She was just looking at the grocery bags on the table, her wife had just brought in, when the inspiration struck and she got to work. The endless stream of thought and inspiration, and trying to maintain this "flow-state," is something I, too, understand as a creative.
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