Wretched (2021)

2021

Wretched is a continuing body of work based on the true story of the 1875 Westfield Flood and the story of a seance that preceded it. Held by three 9-year-old girls, the seance was believed to have been prophetic of the cataclysmic damage of the flood in central Indiana. The work consists of six 36 x 48 inch woodblock prints pressed into stretched muslin and lit from behind. The images are inspired by the visions reported by Lyda Lane, the sole narrator for this event.

Works in Wretched are able to be viewed both lit and unlit. The way they inhabit space varies at different times of day and the intensity of the LED light is adjustable to fit various moods or light scenarios.

While deeply rooted in history and folklore, the prints are also reactions to the ever increasing threat of climate change. In the summer of 2021, the planet was assaulted by it’s most active hurricane season recorded, and New York City experienced record flooding twice in one month. As flood waters rise, what visions will we think prophetic with hindsight? What divine/demonic visitations still await us?

Much of the imagery used in Wretched draws from historical “Harbingers,” a thing that announces the impending arrival of another thing. Comets were ill fated harbingers of the death of kings or famine but also messiahs. Snakes were harbingers of knowledge, and change. Flowers are harbingers of romance but also messages of condolences. Harbingers are often natural phenomena assigned significance by humanity, and their presence still impacts us.

Muslin was used in place of canvas or paper for it’s translucent quality but also it’s relationship to the physicality of seance. Materials like muslin or cheesecloth were ingested by psychic mediums and then regurgitated during seances as a kind of trans-dimensional spirit skin. A medium would hold this fabric along with other items in their gut and appear to “produce” it during a trance. In a way, the work of Wretched is a Shroud of Turin impression of ink