Harbor Library is a condensed version of a library in my domestic art studio in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and its shelves reflect the ways in which my neighborhood inspires me, as well as my dual needs for solitude and activism.
The pattern covering the books is based on a free QR code (4KB), I downloaded as a link to my petition that asks for a bike/pedestrian path on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge (the bridge is located close to where I live, by the Narrows tidal strait and New York Harbor). In addition to the books I’m repurposing as pattern canvases, the library also contains books I’ve self-published, not covered in QRC prints - as well as The Questions We Ask Together, published by Open Engagement, for which I wrote an essay.
The artworks by the library books consist of my drawings, photos and paintings - some draw on the QRC and Google maps for inspiration, some are straightforward harbor scapes, and others are collages made from my photos in a local campaign office (I describe the project in the book, Political Office, that comes with a DIY User Manual for this type of residency). Finally, the library also includes my found objects from New York Harbor.
My essay is a response to a question I was given by Open Engagement: who determines what is beneficial? It is part of a collection of 100 essays by 100 artists responding to questions on art and social engagement.
Office Plant next to book covered in QRC inkjet print. I made the Office Plant series from my photographs that were part of a local campaign office (and subsequently damaged during deinstall - see Political Office book).