Av
2019 - Sculpture (Sculpture)
162.56 x 116.84 cm
Erin Jane Nelson
In Erin Jane Nelson’s 2019 body of work Av, panels are covered in collaged images and shellacked with resin or epoxy: photographs of plants intermingle with pictures of men and women engaging in various spiritual activities, cartoons of mothers and their children, or black and white images of window panes. The panels and ceramics act as backdrops upon which Nelson attempts to establish connections between the natural world and the various cultural and religious orders we impose upon it. She incorporates Jewish symbolism and archival photographs alongside her ongoing photographic practice documenting the environmental collapse of her home region. This work finds the young American artist examining her southern Jewish heritage in the same breath as climate change and feminism. Av (meaning father) is titled after a biblical or ceremonial allusion. Nelson’s works include many figures, mostly women, performing rites and rituals traditionally assigned to men: wrapping tefillin straps around their arms, reading Torah, wearing a prayer shawl and leading services. The word “Rebirthing” is visible in the upper left. A mezuzah – an ornament that contains a prayer and marks the doors of Jewish homes – is placed over the wrist of one of the hands, like a bracelet. What might “rebirthing” mean in the context of our political, social, and economic climate? What can be unlearned, relearned, and shared through ritual acts of empathy and trust? What role can a concept as unfashionable as faith play in contemporary dialogue concerning patrimony and survival? Where do people presently make space for collective healing, joy, and support? What can the ceremonies of our past teach us about our sure-to-be disembodied and perilous futures?
Artist Erin Jane Nelson’s practice is grounded in photography sourced from her personal archive of found and original images. She works serially, with each project delving into new conceptual frameworks, from cultural anxiety around climate change to the sentience of octopuses, or the science fiction of our present moment. Her photographic elements merge onto unexpected support structures, their multiple references engaging the nuanced anxiety, conflict, and humor of the present and immediate future. Along with ceramics, found textiles and collaged photographs typical of earlier bodies of work, Nelson incorporates natural dyeing techniques that fix her works with the colors and ghosts of plants and insects. She represents a cohort of young artists based outside of New York who are increasingly speaking at the intersection of art, craft, climate, and belief.
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