About the Performance: The existential weight of the global climate crisis filters into the air we breathe and the connections we share with each other. Titled Aerial Agroglyphs, the performance references irrigation systems utilized in crop circles. As the performance unfolds, viewers are encouraged to reflect on how unsustainable agricultural practices contribute to the decline of air quality and disrupt the connections we have with each other, our natural environment, and ourselves.
During the ritualistic performance, we will be walking on image transfers of clouds. This references the human impact on the air quality in exchange for a product. The plant-based fiber headpiece connects the two performers, balancing a suspended plumb bob above a crop circle of expired cornmeal and wood ash. Drenched and dyed with ash from a forest fire, the headpiece references the carbon impact on the air we breathe.
About the Artists
Marc La Pointe: Memories imprint onto materials, bodies, and places but are frequently illegible. What narratives are etched onto my body that myself and others cannot (or will not) read?
I create inconclusive assemblages, performances, and installations. Narratives can be hidden, coded, or erased. I approach the overlooked, the castoff, and the weathered for their ability to remind us of these stories. An elsewhere. An elsewhen. Dirt from home; cast iron, an element found in our blood, poured, solidified, and oxidized; pine needles from the shed roof; burlap drenched and dripped with indigo; the smell of a place not here (not there); a discarded deer jaw.
Materials—narratives—drift like ghosts. Uncanny empathies surface.
Jean Marshall: Land conservation and the decomposition/revitalization of the natural world are major components of my research and art practice. When first approaching the topic of wildfires I conceptualized how it impacted my perspective on the impermanence of our environment. It was a way to process the grief of seeing the places I grew up visiting covered in flames. Wildfires threatened my home and many other residential spaces. The anxiety of my experiences evacuating twice within the past three years, the increasing summer heat, and the air pollution we all breathe from the fires make summers in Eastern Washington a difficult region to live in. The futile attempts to fix trees by stitching them are used as a tedious and poignant way to address the loss of natural and residential spaces. In the aftermath of this destruction, residents are rebuilding, and the remains of burned forests are being repurposed. By using natural and man-made materials from the Gray Road Fire, my installation and research have led me to explore how fire could improve the environment when used thoughtfully.
Websites:
Marc La Pointe: www.marclapointe.com
Jean Marshall: https://jeanmarshallstudio2.cargo.site/
Image Info:
Left: Jean Marshall. (un)Restored. Performance with burned wood, embroidery thread, and grass turf. Photo by Carly Ellis. 2024.
Right: Untitled (Refoldings). Performance with cast iron, honey, gravel, bones, clay from not here, and plastic quilt painted green. Photo by Joshua Hobson. 2024.