The water between us remembers, so we carry this history on our skin... long for a sea-bath and hope the salt will heal what ails us
by Deborah Jack
August 31 - October 15, 2016
the water between us remembers… is a film installation that engages magical realism to explore the resonance of historical traumas on nature. The project is an allegory where Memory, migration, trans-Atlantic slavery, borders, re-generation are themes that run throughout the work. The island represents a place that is both disconnected and connected, both history and the present. The sea is a space of hidden and unknown depth. What is the weight of the bodies lost at sea and how do bodies on shore honor the loss? Bodies lost during the Middle Passage of slavery and bodies lost at sea in current migrant crisis. Nature regenerates after the trauma and devastation of natural and man-made disasters. How do these sites of trauma become sites of healing?
Deborah Jack’s video/sound installation, photography, painting and text work explores trans-cultural existence, memory, the effects of colonialism and mythology through re-memory.
She has exhibited in solo and group shows in the Caribbean, the United States, and Europe including at the 2014 SITE Santa Fe Biennial, Brooklyn Museum, Jersey City Museum, Western Michigan University, and El Museo del Barrio. Deborah has put together two poetry collections, The Rainy Season (1997) and skin (2006) and has been published in The Caribbean Writer and Calabash. Deborah Jack is an Assistant Professor of Art at New Jersey City University.
