Stations

14 terra cotta reliefs, mounted on wood

18”ht. x 16”w x 1”d 

1987-8 

 

In the late 1980's an epidemic of homelessness took over my neighborhood of Westside Manhattan.  Someone was waiting on every corner, sleeping in our subway stop, riding on the bus. The contrast between those of us rushing between work and home and those who had nowhere to go was monumental. With my two year-old daughter in hand, I felt we were witnessing the unraveling of democracy. I began a series of terra cotta reliefs to document these scenes, using the dramatic tableau of the Stations of the Cross to encompass the step by step nature of the human drama. There was no single person at the center of this story, but an ever-changing stream of faces. 

 

Daniel Berrigan, poet, activist and priest, wrote a set of meditations on these pieces, which were published with photographs of the reliefs as Stations, the Way of the Cross, by Harper & Row, in 1989.

 

The reliefs have been shown on their own, paired with readings of the meditations, and as multimedia performances with readers, music and dance. Larry Cook of Northwestern University wrote an original organ piece for their presentation at Northwestern University Chapel in 1994. 

 

Exhibitions (selected): 

1998  Institute for the Humanities, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.

1994  Northwestern University Chapel, Chicago, IL.

1993  Waterville Unitarian Church, Waterville, ME.

1992  Franciska Needham Gallery, Damariscotta, ME.

1991  Chapel at H.O.M.E., Orland, ME.

1990  National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C. 

1990  Riverside Church, New York, NY.

1989  University of Michigan School of Art & Design, Ann Arbor, MI.

1988  Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York, NY.