The exhibition Intimate Strangers renders quiet encounters between the natural and human-built environment to consider the liminal spaces where two forces meet. The works portray the cyclical dynamics and forced relationships found in spaces intimately inhabited.

The exhibition includes several series of works that each feature letterpress texts printed onto digital photographs.

Two of the series focus on plants that have grown amidst the unrepaired cracks of urban sidewalks and pavement wastelands. These plants reclaim and reinhabit the literal fractures in human infrastructure to tell stories of the cyclical dynamic between life and decay. Cracks in pavement evidence the passage of time; concrete breaks down with wear and weather, opening more ground to further growth. These plants inscribe a new chapter in the material evolution of place as they assert their agency over human efforts to contain and control. The texts accompanying the photographs are broken apart as well, prompting a process of mending through reading.

Another series closely represents groups of lichens and mosses cohabiting on a fallen tree branch. Other works feature still-life arrangements of manmade and natural objects interacting in the same frame.

The series in the exhibition collectively activate conversations between nature and culture, word and image, visual abstraction and representation. The works address the spaces where categories meet, where intimate strangers cohabitate, collaborate, and create.

FASHION SHOW

Please make an appointment with our director, Kendra Roberts (director@blackfish.com), to view these artworks. Due to limited storage space, not all artwork shown here is onsite.