Thanks to the power of Eduardo Galeano’s writings, I have created my first outdoor art installation, entitled MIRRORS, in my front yard smack in the middle of this working class neighborhood of Hammond, Indiana where I have lived now for 13 years.
This installation opened on Halloween, just in time for trick or treating children and their parents on Monday, October 31st. I thought that the subject matter of the exhibit lent itself to the opening days of the exhibit which include Halloween, Dias de los Muertos, and the feasts of All Souls and All Saints. And, I thought, it might make persons more open to participating in the Woman from Oslo segment of the exhibit.
This installation includes three short works excerpted from books by Eduardo Galeano, a journalist, novelist, poet, and artist who lived and worked in Uruguay. He is considered one of the great writers of Latin America. I created the elements you’ll see pictured here in response to his stories.
As a sonic backdrop that evening, from my open windows came the soundtrack from the “American Beauty” movie, composed by Thomas Newman.
The title piece of the exhibit, MIRRORS:
Mirrors are full of people.
When we see ourselves, we see them.
When we turn away, do they?
from MIRRORS, Stories of Almost Everyone by Eduardo Galeano
Taken before dark – notice the dress hanging from the tree in the background.
The mirror now reflects the night sky and the dress only a dark suggestion of form.
In a bed by the Gulf of Corinth, a woman contemplates by firelight the profile of her sleeping lover.
On the wall, his shadow flickers.
The lover, who lies by her side, will leave. At dawn, he will leave to war, to death. And his shadow, his traveling companion, will leave with him and with him will die.
It is still dark. The woman takes a coal out of the embers and draws on the wall the outline of his shadow.
Those lines will not leave.
They will not embrace her, and she knows it. But they will not leave.
from MIRRORS, Stories of Almost Everyone by Eduardo Galeano
And the third piece, which took the most time, thought and work to create, has a dual title: “The Woman from Oslo, aka The Passion of Speech [1]”; the latter title being Galeano’s original title in his book.
she met a woman who sang and
glancing at slips of paper
like someone telling fortunes from crib notes.
This woman from Oslo had on an
enormous dress dotted all over with pockets.
pull slips of paper out of her pockets
each with its story to tell,
stories tried and true of
people who wished to come back to life
the dead and the forgotten,
depths of her dress sprang
of the human animal for whom
From The Book of Embraces by Eduardo Galeano
I made the enormous dress and affixed three pockets. In each pocket I placed a slip of paper. On the slips were written:
“Joan Ruel McQuade / Daughter-Sister-Wife-Cousin-Aunt-Wife / 1932-1985.”
“Sean Francis McQuade / Son-Brother-Uncle / 1957-2012.”
“Mary Katherine McQuade /Daughter-Sister-Aunt-Mother / 1962 – 1986.”
By evoking and including the names of my departed family members, I felt I could invite others to do the same, without fear of being prescriptive – I wanted to be a colleague in the exercise, rather than a puppeteer. As trick-or-treaters came streaming by, groups of adolescents, youngsters with parents and/or older siblings, it quickly became apparent that the entire exhibit was drawing them in. They were interested, asking questions, taking selfies in the mirror, eagerly reading the words, asking what the slips of paper on the table were for. I explained that this was an art project, something called public art and that it needed the participation of others to be truly successful. If they would like to write the name of someone they knew who had died, someone they could keep alive in the act of remembering, I would add that person’s name by placing it in a pocket of its own on the dress. By the end of Hammond’s trick or treating session I had 21 names on 21 slips of paper. This level of participation was more than I had hoped for and it left me feeling at once awestruck and deeply satisfied. My work had made an impact. People wished to name and give life, for just a moment, to someone who had died. Most importantly, they wanted to share their story. My interest conveyed to them that their story had meaning that was larger then they previously may have understood.
Each weekend during the exhibit I will take down the dress long enough to affix new pockets and add the slips with names. I have posted a sign inviting those who care to record their stories to contact me. I’ve also invited people to write their stories for inclusion in a dedicated website and for possible printed publications.
This project is one which I hope to continue in other places, even as I hope to repeat it each year at this time for one month. This project also opens the door for other public art projects which I would like to facilitate, including the work of other artists in the community. I would like to work with students of all ages in the schools in creating visual and sonic responses to literature by the many important writers of our times and earlier times. I would like to facilitate art that brings people together in discovery and sharing.
I welcome invitations to facilitate this or other installation projects. Write me at [email protected] to begin the conversation.
My thanks to the memory of Eduardo Galeano and his incredible writings which have awakened in me new ways of making art and being in community through that art. Also, thanks to Barb McBride who spent hours with me getting these pieces in place in the yard. Thanks to Eva Volkmann whose counsel came in just the right ways at the right time as I developed the work.
MIRRORS at GALLERY 1039 Thanks to the power of Eduardo Galeano's writings, I have created my first outdoor art installation, entitled MIRRORS, in my front yard smack in the middle of this working class neighborhood of Hammond, Indiana where I have lived now for 13 years.
