Being Ernest Shackleton, in Two Phases

was a mixed media installation done at AWOL in 2015-16, displaying an interior and exterior reconstruction of the shipwreck of the Endurance; the ship involved in the fated journey of Sir Earnest Shackleton during his 1914 isolation on ice floes. Painted paper, wood, and Styrofoam was used to provide a large scale illusion of the ship lodged and broken in sea ice. I collaborated with artist/architect Mehran Ayati in planning and logistics of the exhibition, and Mehran provided the working video periscope which viewed the rooftop installation. For the second phase of the exhibition, local street artist Mondo Bobadilla was invited to alter and mutate the rooftop replica in any way he wished. The simulated polar scene on the rooftop was exposed to elements and weather over the months which contributed to its planned disintegration and decay.

The motive of this show was to take on directly the issues of gentrification as a creative entity and plane of action, not only discussion. El Sereno is a working class and industrialized area of Los Angeles which is vulnerable to new development, and the attractive new artists recently evicted or priced-out from dontown Los Angeles art studios. Not just commercial, but small, artist-run galleries are being closely scrutinized for impact on the future chain gentrification on ever-more vulnerable communities.

Where no clear solutions are given, this exhibition upholds that artists must continue to create, yet may consider alternative practices and new awarenesses. Shackleton was chosen as a metaphor for an adventurous artist who some may see as a heroic explorerer, others as an appropriating colonist.

images below include documentation of the process, final exhibition views, as well as cinema stills from the related film in process, Shackleton Hallucinates, 2016.