The Art World has been reacting to our increasingly digital age with the material, the tactile, and craft. While the current Whitney Biennale is overrun with digital and video art, the results from the 2022 Venice Biennale tell the other side of the story. Women from all over the world (Simone Leigh, Precious Okoyomon, Acaye Kerunen) are all celebrated for their meatspace practices. Kerunen ,specifically, is very open about her ongoing collaboration with local craftswomen in Uganda.
The debate between art and craft is an old one. In 17th century Holland a group of artists left the Guild of Saint Luke to separate themselves from house painters. From the Western Canonical perspective, fiber arts have been seen as craft. But nowadays artists such as Bisa Butler, Basil Kincaid ,and Laura Marsh are helping to change that narrative. I sat down with Laura and asked her some questions about her new show Knots Hold Intentionality, curated by Direlia Lazo, currently on view at Dot Fiftyone gallery.
JOHN BARRYMORE: How do you feel about the ephemeral nature of installation versus the time-consuming nature of fiber arts?
LAURA MARSH: It’s about anticipating the viewer and guiding them to find themselves in an immersive setting. Installation is about drawing connections out of the viewer, and for me, it’s about having direct contact with individuals. It’s about gathering, narrative building, and working in an inclusive way.
JB: Describe the activation of space?
LM: I was envisioning the front space [of the show] as an altar; as if I had been working in my own cathedral in a contemplative, quiet, way. I wanted to produce an installation that can talk about not being defeated, pushing past issues, and finding balance. Within the arts, there have always been inclusive and exclusive events. That activation, when you first come in, is meant to feel reflective, contemplative, and layered.
JB: What does the work of Malala Yousafzai mean to you?
LM: She’s a 24-year-old human rights activist and educationist who was shot going to school in 2012. It means a lot that she has a strong voice and advocates for those who are denied access to education, and she speaks about how civilizations cannot expect to succeed when half of the members of societies are held back. She’s been told so many times that she can’t do it. Her going out there and sharing her experience is very liberating, and that’s why I quoted her in the installation.
JB: How did you come to focus on the banner?
LM: I first started with flags that were rectangular. I’ve been working with them since the early 2000s. I started to use the pennant banner in 2018 at a residency in Italy. The banner goes back to the middle ages, they were used to demarcate castles. They are very much about ownership. [articulates thinking to herself] “What if I made banners that had humanitarian messages, that were inclusive, like a reversal of what is typically on a banner?” The statements are not trying to claim territory. They’re not nationalistic. It’s about… let’s fight to have a conversation and talk about the people that have been left behind.
JB: Define Placemaking?
LM: Either partnering to define a new space for community action. I think of placemaking as very collaborative. Even if it’s with the viewer who brings their own ideas to the collaboration. Fred Wilson is someone I’ve always admired for being able to intersect with museums. Being able to talk about history through objects, and I’ve always enjoyed artists who work non-traditionally.
JB: What was it like working with Direlia Lazo?
LM: Wonderful, I had an inspiring studio visit with her. When she came in she was very open to possibilities; she asked for playlists, reading lists, etc. It’s ideal to work with a curator who wants to intersect. There’s a great amount of drive that she brings and her input made the show feel fresh and new, and the altar concept was conceived by her for a large basis of the show.
JB: What was it like making in situ?
LM: It took over a month, including weeks in the studio and weeks on site. Direlia encouraged me to draw on the wall directly. I walked away trusting myself much more.
Laura Marsh‘s solo show KNOTS HOLD INTENTIONALITY runs thru May 24 at DOTFIFTYONE Gallery in Miami, FLA.
