Landscape Is Sanctuary to Our Fears, 2019
William Paterson University, Ben Shahn Galleries
In her solo exhibition at the William Paterson University Galleries, Marion Wilson finds inspiration in William Carlos Williams’ long-form poem, Paterson. The artist explains, “where Williams declares that the city is a man and is not nature; I reclaim the ‘city’ as a woman and explore its connection to nature and animism.” Wilson explores the city through nature, investigating its ecology and landscape to foster a closer connection to self and place. Starting in spring 2019, Wilson collaborated with William Paterson University Professor of Environment Science Nicole Davi and undergraduate students to conduct stream studies of the Passaic watershed. Together, they examined macroinvertebrates, which are bio indicators of water quality as well as overlooked and underappreciated aspects of our surrounding landscape. Over the course of subsequent months, Wilson conducted field hikes to collect local species and create an herbarium of plants and bottled waters. Reflecting on her research, the artist observes “Paterson is a city that used its water to power the silk industry; and is a city that in its post-industrial decline has overgrown urban lots of invasive weeds. My work questions both implicitly and explicitly whether art can save nature; and whether nature can save us from ourselves.”
While the core of this project emerged along the Passaic River in Paterson, New Jersey, Wilson also looks outwards to examine bodies of water in New York, Connecticut and New Hampshire. Northeastern regions share similar histories and ecologies; water played an essential role in the growth of factories and neighboring cities during the Industrial Revolution while today these areas are also among the fastest warming states in the nation. Rising temperatures threaten ecosystems in lakes and rivers as evidenced by the recent algae bloom in New Jersey’s Lake Hopatcong, which Wilson also documented.
This exhibition will showcase "The Waters of My Childhood" a series of photographs of bottled water collected from lakes that Wilson swam in regularly as a child (and re-visited this past summer); The Library is Sanctuary to Our Fears, a 12 year herbarium of drawings of significant plant species housed in a repurposed slide storage cabinet; and an untitled series of photographs of food scraps. Through her photographs and drawings of distinct and yet analogies geographies, Wilson interrogates our relationship to nature at a time when extreme climate change threatens ecosystems, livelihoods, and communities. This exhibition is funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
