Artist Statement:
In 2019 I was nominated to present a proposal for the High Line Plinth, a programme for temporary monumental sculpture to be placed on a plinth at the Spur section of the High Line ran by High Line Arts in New York City. The invitation was to think about the relevance of monuments in public space today. I proposed Foreigners, a 6m high chalk-white sculpture with a smooth, holey surface made of underwater concrete rendered in a water-based resin. Foreigners depicts three human-like beings in the act of embracing each other, merged into a coral or foam-like matter which gives the appearance of porous rock or reef to the whole. The interior is hollow, allowing sunlight to go through the sculpture and to eventually project multiple spots of light in the shadow created by it on the floor. The plinth would be cladded with concrete slabs matching the Spur’s floor as if the floor had raised at that point. The sculpture would be made of underwater concrete, with holes and pores that can function as habitat for local birds during the exhibition, and, as oyster habitat in the waters of the Hudson River once the exhibition period is over.
If the High Line Plinth proposes an exercise in rethinking the monument, Foreigners is my attempt to create a monument that is permeable, receptive and adaptable, able to host, shelter and restore, and that takes a holistic stand in the arts’ economy.