Referenced throughout the exhibition, the Watts Towers take on an expanded role in Sojourner. In the video, Smith reimagines the 1966 group portrait taken by Bill Ray using a diverse cast of female actors whose actions were both scripted and improvised. The video was shot at the Joshua Tree Outdoor Museum, a freely accessible, ten-acre environment created by assemblage sculptor Noah Purifoy, who began his practice by transforming detritus from the 1965 Watts Rebellion into works of art.

Como parte de su práctica multidisciplinaria, Smith ha organizado una serie de procesiones al aire libre con pancartas con imágenes y frases emblemáticas. Estas performances dependen de su interés en subvertir los matices agresivos de las marchas militaristas y religiosas para crear eventos públicos igualmente perturbadores, pero agradables, en el espíritu de la acción comunitaria de base. La artista también crea pancartas que funcionan como obras de arte independientes, sin dejar de hacer referencia a procesiones formales.

As part of her multidisciplinary practice, Smith has staged a number of outdoor processions featuring banners with emblematic imagery and phrases. These performances hinge on her interest in subverting the aggressive undertones of militaristic and religious marches in order to create equally disruptive, yet convivial public happenings in the spirit of grassroots community action. The artist also creates banners that function as standalone artworks while still referencing formal processions.

En Epífora, las cámaras de circuito cerrado registran lo que la artista llama un “archivo de asociaciones, viajes, afectos, deseos, preguntas y anhelos” situado ante amplios paisajes y cielos procedentes de la NASA y National Geographic. Al proyectar los cuadros de escala íntima en las paredes circundantes, Smith crea un entorno provisional y onírico en el que los contornos familiares del presente se transforman en nuevos mundos fantásticos, sin ataduras a un tiempo y espacio específicos, y liberados de narrativas culturales arraigadas.

In Epistrophy, closed-circuit cameras record what the artist refers to as an “archive of associations, travels, affections, desires, questions, and longings” set before sweeping landscapes and skyscapes sourced from NASA and National Geographic. Projecting the intimately scaled tableaux onto the surrounding walls, Smith creates a provisional, dreamlike environment in which the familiar contours of the present are transformed into fantastic new worlds, untethered to a specific time and place and freed from entrenched cultural narratives.

Peregrina entrelaza el metraje de Smith del ashram de la música Alice Coltrane en Agoura, California; el pueblo de Watervliet Shaker de Troy, New York; y las Watts Towers, contra una banda sonora de “One for the Father (Una para el padre)” de Coltrane (1978). A principios de la década de 1970, Coltrane vivió tanto una proyección astral como visitas espirituales.

Pilgrim interweaves Smith’s footage of musician Alice Coltrane’s ashram in Agoura, California; the Watervliet Shaker village of Troy, New York; and Watts Towers, against a soundtrack of Coltrane’s “One for the Father” (1978). In the early 1970s, Coltrane experienced both astral projection and spiritual visitations. These incidents led her to adopt the Sanskrit name Turiyasangitananda, and in 1975 to found the Sai Anantam Ashram where she elected to live a life of structured spiritual practice while continuing to create music that was unrestricted by form or societal expectations.

El papel tapiz en las galerías plasma sitios y referencias que se repiten a lo largo de la exposición, imaginándolos como parte de un paisaje contiguo de otro mundo. Montada sobre este telón de fondo, esta reproducción de un retrato colectivo tomado por el fotoperiodista Bill Ray muestra a hombres jóvenes al pie de las Watts Towers en Los Angeles. Las torres fueron construidas por el inmigrante italiano Simon Rodia de 1921 a 1954 en el solar donde vivía. Rodia nunca explicó por qué construyó el fantástico entorno escultórico, pero lo tituló Nuestro Pueblo.

The wallpaper in the galleries depicts sites and references that recur throughout the exhibition, imagining them as part of a contiguous, otherworldly landscape. Hanging over this backdrop, this reproduction of a group portrait taken by photojournalist Bill Ray shows young men at the foot of the Watts Towers in Los Angeles. The towers were built by Italian immigrant Simon Rodia from 1921 to 1954 on the lot where he lived. Rodia never explained why he built the whimsical sculptural environment but entitled it Nuestro Pueblo (“Our Town”).

Esta exposición está organizada por el Instituto de Arte Contemporáneo de la Universidad de Pennsylvania.

El apoyo es proporcionado por Pasadena Art Alliance.