in the pines
In the Pines
Solo Exhibition
Locust Projects
On view July 8 - August 15, 2020
Main and Project Room
Taphophile
Someone who takes an interest in cemeteries, tombstones, or memory of past lives
In the Pines opened at Locust Projects during the height of the worldwide pandemic. I have been proposing this cemetery exhibition for a decade, and only thanks to the support of Locust Projects was I able to finally create it. It is a memorial to our landscape which is nearly gone, and characters who once populated it. It is not just serendipity that it ended up happening now, in light of recent world events. People are hungry for more. They see the curtains of history fall. Let them all fall. That history was written through the tiny lens of hegemony and economy, leaving out everyone and everything that actually matters about being human on this extraordinary planet. It is easier than ever to access information through museums, archives, books, etc. all by yourself, and while you don’t have to become a super nerd like me, it is a sin to lack even curiosity about the actual history of your hometown. A cemetery is a lasting impression of the collective past, a place perfectly designed to contemplate its narrative and act as a memorial. I have always felt at ease in a cemetery. Let’s strengthen our sense of community by honoring the dead. To celebrate history is also to mourn what we have lost, and take back the cemetery for the living. Death is not the darkness, it is the light. We are the ones that shove it into the long night, along with our necessary grieving. After all, grieving is remembering. Come speak to the dead with me.
Click here for the Field Guide to Christina Pettersson's Pines Cemetery at Locust Projects
Exhibition Info and Press Release - Locust Projects
Video Interview - Vimeo
Video playing in the exhibition - Vimeo
Blog about exhibition - Locust Projects Closer Look
Video Feature - World Red Eye
Comprehensive Review - Nicole Martinez
Video of Zoom Funeral Party
360 Video Tour with the artist
Photos courtesy of Eli Peck.
