This installation is absolutely mesmerizing. For the very best effect, you climb the stairs to a scaffold that runs across one side of the room, (for people who don’t like heights you can walk alongside the installation) there is a projection of several words which run one at a time across the end wall VIOLENCE, WELFARE, ISOLATION, DRUGS, SECTION EIGHT, POVERTY, HOUSING PROJECT.
As you look down you see lines of what appears to be lines of washing, on closer inspection you see that they appear to be clothes but are not quite clothes, they are shapes of clothing made of silk organza, which have been treated with encaustic, rust, tea, and filled with hair from anonymous donors.
The installation is a reflection on the poverty and the reality of living in the Projects, no one wants to live there and everyone wants to escape them. The artist born in Venezuela lived for two and half years in a housing project in Cleveland.
One ‘dress’ in particular stands out, a red dress with its sleeves and bottom hems are sewn shut. The red dress is a symbol of one who ends up in the Projects but does not belong there. I would put the question; does anyone belong in the Projects? This installation generates a visceral gnawing sense of hopelessness.
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