A look back at my 2018 exhibit / book launch
A life-size installation greeted the visitors. Dog silhouettes covered in velvet. Flowers suspended upside down, with copper wire catching the light in a way specifically designed to create drama.
Back in 2018, after a successful Kickstarter campaign and the help of Lantern Books, I was able to publish a large coffee table book of my Pit Bull Flower Power project so far. To celebrate the project, and all the people who had made it possible, I decided to design my largest exhibit to date. The Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn welcomed the project.
It took me 9 months to design the book, and a little less to prepare for the exhibit itself. At first, it seemed like such a great idea to create an exhibit and organize a big launch for the book. But as the months passed, I remember feeling so overwhelmed (and excited). Each time I went to The Invisible Dog Art Center to take measurements, it felts as if the space had grown. That room was HUGE. And Lucien, the director of the space, kept telling me to do “whatever I wanted”, and strongly encouraged me to design one large piece.
I had never really done anything of that scale before. And I was quite terrified by the whole process. Finally, slowly, I designed each element. Not without the help of many who listened, advised, and helped. My husband Sten landed his sewing skills for the little pillows. Current Studios designed the AR application for my Augmented Reality piece. Emily, who worked at Lantern Books, helped suspend all the flowers, one by one. I also had the great support of the team at D.O.E., who worked hard to help my vision come to life with custom lighting and more.
Then the event came, and it was amazing! People came from all over, lining up to get their book signed. There were tears, hugs, smiles, doggies. I am so glad I had hired Alexei Kaleina to film it all and put together a video memory of the event (see the video below), and Jenna Bascom captured everything in her beautiful photographs.
I would love to recreate this exhibit, adding new pieces to it, maybe for an exhibit on the West coast!
As for the book, it is still available, but the stock is decreasing month after month. There will most likely not be a reprint of this book in the future.
To the left: my Red Frame piece. Video and sculpture. To the right, a selection of Pit Bull Flower Power photo prints.
The Red Frame is a video installation presenting a looped video of a shelter dog jumping incessantly in his kennel.
Madness? Mental illness? Playfulness? Eagerness? What are the emotions Connor is feeling, when he jumps nonstop to see what lies on the other side of his kennel?
This piece is a reflection on the dichotomy between saving animals, a beautiful, grand act, which is philosophically fascinating, and the reality of that act and the responsibility that comes with. Long timer shelter dogs might suffer mental harm, if not given the appropriate amount of enrichment and attention.
This installation is made of velvet pillows suspended from the ceiling with red thread. On each pillow, an intake photo from a city shelter, where euthanasia rates are usually the highest. On the back of each pillow, an intake number and the fate of the dog: adopted, returned to owner, euthanized. Visitors were encouraged to interact with the pillows.
In this augmented reality piece, a scan of the corner of the room reveals an invisible dog, a chained dog I met once in Texas. Chaining dogs is still legal in many U.S. states. Chained dogs are invisible. They rarely receive the attention and care they need. It is a sad, lonely, cruel life for a dog.
A few collars, padlocks, chains and harnesses were presented like museum relics. Some still had dog fur stuck on them. All were removed from dogs who were seized by the police or dropped off at Atlanta’s city shelter. Each relic was accompanied by a tag, which indicated the fate of the particular dog.
