by Hannah Israel and Sarah Hobbs
We investigate and create new forms of showcasing objects and collections. This installation contemplates the way we memorialize the act of presenting objects as pageantry and fascination. Besides reflecting the environment around the shed, the green tinsel covering the shed acts as to mirror or to reflect the garden it also acts as a container with a flourish, which moves with the breeze just as the natural objects do. The green tinsel gives the feeling that the structure is ready to join a parade. Inside, a series of projected images illuminates the interior of the shed. The video installation is saturated with images of green objects projected on the wall. For the viewer, the act of seeing the collection is controlled by the timing of the video, not by spending time looking at objects that draw you in, that you want to spend more time looking at and skipping over items that do not. It is an artificial way of looking rather than a natural one. It is a collection presented in video form, rather than physical presence, both in and out of nature. It is a gathering of objects though some of them cannot be physically gathered, this collection does not have to be completely owned or housed by the collector. A kind of deconstructed wanderkammer, this installation shows a different way of viewing a collection, a different way of collecting. Mimesis represents the fleeting nature of human experience, the intersection of what’s real and simulated. Ultimately, the installation is a psychological space, inviting viewers to a new understanding of the shape of all things.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Hannah Israel was born in the Manila, Philippines. She received her Masters of Fine Arts in Sculpture at University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Her work is across various interests including sculpture, installation, video, and mark making. Israel has exhibited her work at Poem88 Gallery in Atlanta GA, Telfair Museum, Savannah, GA, the High Museum of Art, Zuckerman Museum of Art, The Vargas Museum of Art in the Philippines, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Honolulu, among others. She is represented by Poem88 Gallery. Israel has received the Line and Chance Award at Serenbe Inc, the Daedalus Art Grant (NYC), the Creative and Performance Art Fellowship at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, IL and the Artist Fellowship at Cornell University, NY among others. Her works are collected in museums and private collection. She is currently Professor of Art and the Illges Gallery Director at Columbus State University in Georgia.
An artist who uses photography and installation, Sarah Hobbs’s work is an ongoing exploration of the neurotic tendencies that exist in us all. Hobbs grew up in Columbus, Georgia and holds a BA in Art History and an MFA in Photography from the University of Georgia. She lives and works in Atlanta. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Knoxville Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the Sir Elton John Collection, among others. Her first monograph, Small Problems in Living, was published in 2012. Hobbs has also been awarded an Idea Capital Grant, a Walker Evans Focus Fellowship for AIR Serenbe, the Dave Bown Projects Photography Competition Grand Prize, an Artadia Grant, the Photolucida Critical Mass Top 50 award (2011 and 2019), and named a Hudgens Prize finalist in 2017.