portfolio > organs

or What We Leave When We Leave Home: Odes to New York

These organs were created in 2008 during a year-long artist-in-residence program at Hub-Bub in Spartanburg, South Carolina and installed in New York City in the summer following the completion of the residency.

My relocation from New York City to Spartanburg, and my feeling that I may never return to New York, led me to question the definition of home in fundamental ways and contributed to an overwhelming feeling of homelessness and displacement. I often invoked the memory of New York with a great sadness and nostalgia; I felt I had left there some of the most vital parts of myself. The organs are influenced by these feelings; they attempt to assess and define the qualities of home.

I chose seven places in the city that held the most meaning for me and then wrote letters to each of those places, discussing their role in my life in New York as well as my decision to bring that particular life to an end. These letters were handwritten onto scrolls and inserted into glass vials, which in turn, are each held in one of my vital internal organs (sculpey, acrylic paint, marker).

These organs were installed clandestinely in the places that the scrolls correspond to, in hopes that they would be found and read by current residents. It was a very literal way of leaving a piece of myself in my old home and, at the same time, making sure that I could never really leave, and that I will always retain a presence there.

Organs
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
Varied dimensions
2008
Organs, with hand for scale
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Lungs
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Lungs (back)
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Lungs with vial removed
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Lungs with scroll removed
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Lungs with scroll removed
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Uterus
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Uterus (back)
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Liver
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Liver
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Liver (back)
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Heart
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Heart
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Heart (back)
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Heart in Washington Square Park
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Heart in Washington Square Park
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Pancreas
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Pancreas
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Pancreas (back)
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Stomach
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Stomach (back)
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2009
Stomach with vial removed
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Stomach with scroll removed
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Stomach with scroll removed
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Intestine
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008
Intestine (back)
Sculpey, acrylic, marker, glass vial, frosted mylar and ribbon
2008