Pyrophyllite Tent in Ninth Ward, New Orleans
Shortly after Hurricane Katrina I had the opportunity to visit New Orleans. During this trip I installed a work in hopes of sending some healing and uplifting images into that landscape.
In order to get to the 9th ward I had to take a taxi from the city, and I was somewhat surprised and relieved that my driver was reluctant to drop me there. The area seemed as if it had been lived in decades ago judging from the overgrowth, not in recent months filled with homes and family’s. He promised to pick me back up in three hours; it was a lucky arrangement because my phone ended up dying.
Temporarily set in the landscape is a light, mobile, easily deconstructable, tent like form of a Pyrophyllite Crystal representing the fleeting yet constant bond we have with nature and society. This mineral is one that replenishes mineral depleted soils, and detoxifies; it is a way to start at the beginning of the problem, the healing of the land. This land in particular holding many long established injustice of class, societal and social neglect, needs a little restructuring of its infrastructure.
