I was here, too by Mónica Jiménez Sablich

I was here, too

Monica Jimenez

“I had a flashback of something that never existed.” — Louise Bourgeois

About the Project Markers Locals Interview

Artist Research

Index

Norm Magnuson Tacita Dean Andy Goldsworthy Louis Bourgeois Weiyi Li

The River as a Voice Sounds of the James

Creating a Marker Ideas & Context Production Display

About the Project

I was here, too

About the Project

Let me see what you see... When I started thinking about markers, I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking for. Markers could be so many thing: time, places, seasons, signs. Markers are out there, sometimes already highlighted for us. But those were not the markers I felt I was looking for. I am not a local in this city, nevertheless, this is the city where I belong now and for the near future. I am creating a personal archive of memoriens and significant places. I want to see what’s not marked. I want to find what is there to be seen. I want to see what you see...

What are those “unmarked” places that only the true locals know about? Where are they, what is the story behind them, and how can I embrace them? And, how can I find my own? This is a collection of data, pictures, interviews and sound around the James River. The information also includes research and artists references that were helpful in the process of creating the physical marker displayed.

Markers

I was here, too

Pony Pasture 7:17 AM - 7:57 AM 35Ë&#x161;F 3 significant markers Talked to 6 locals 2 recorded interviews

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1. Mist on the River In the cold sunny mornings the river wakes up exhaling mist - 7:24 AM

I was here, too

2. High Water Mark A lonely sign located at the top of a call box pole with no apparent explanation to be found anywhere around. Written in bold sans serif letter the title calls “High Water Mark”. With no knowledge of its history it would be easy to ignore. Where does it come from? Why is it there?

Michael, a local, explained “In June of 1972 Huricane Agnes passed through Richmond. Everything flooded. I remember that day. My dad was in the National Guard and was called to help. A first responder. The water level was that high. 28 feet I think. It had never been that high, it has never been that high ever since. I was a kid when that happened, but I remember.”

Pony Pasture Entrance Call Box Pole 7:40 AM

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Huguenot Flatwater Conversation with Michael 7:34 AM (picture by David Leopold)

I was here, too

3. Finding the Sun “ If you walk towards Huguenot Bridge this way, where uhh, where the firefighters put in you know the train at, at that grass plot... If you get there at the right time you can stop and see the sun coming up Dogwood Dell over there. It’s beautiful.” -Michael

I was here, too

Michael

Locals

Michael had the best stories and was happy to share his personal markers.

David

David is retired and takes his dogs for a stroll every morning, except when the river level is too high and the trails are damp.

I was here, too

Steven

Steven brings his children to play around the river. He grew up in the area.

Fleet Feet Promoters

They come from the North Side, but think that the South Side trails have better access to the river. They were promoting a shoe brand.

I was here, too

Interview

Interview with Michael Sun, November 3, 2019 7:34 AM

A: You are not cold at all? B: No, I little bit, but I mean... I’m not gonna die from it. I like the cold weather. What is it, like 35º out here? A: It is, exactly, 35º ... Uhh, what’s your name? B: Michael. A. Michael. So you know Pony Pastures fairly well.

I was here, too

at, in that grass plot? If you get there at the right time you can stop and see the sun come up over Dogwood Dell over there. A: Hmm! Wow, that’s a nice one! Have you...? Do you ever go out there to see the sunrise?

B: Oh yes. A: So, is there anything in this area, it doesn’t have to be in Pony Pasture necessarily, but something that you see... Something that you would mark that is not marked? B: Hmm, oh, well... If you come towards Huguenot bridge this way, where the uhh... where the firefighters put in, you know, the train

B: Oh, absolutely, cause I have to take my girlfriend to work at like about... a quarter to seven in the morning on the weekends, so I’m up, so I mean, why not? It is beautiful. A: Alright! So... That way to... Hmm, I don’t think I know that area. B: This road down there, you just take a right and go down there. It’s not even... It might be a quarter mile. It’s on the right. It’s like a little grass area, and right at the end it is chained off. A: Ok, I see.

B: That’s where the firemen come in and drop the ramps in the middle. You stop right there and you face this way, east of course, you can see the sun coming up. You got Dogwood Dell in the background. You can see it with the trees right now. But, uhmm... It is gorgeous. I was there one morning. I saw the sun coming up, I had a beer with me, I had just gotten off of work, and over to the right hand side, there were three fawns in the field, playing. So, I mean... it don’t get any better than that. It doesn’t... That is just the way I see it... A: Hmm, that’s a very good marker...

Artist Research

I was here, too

Artist Research

About the artists For this project, I came across six significant artists during my research. Their work and process caught my attention, and even though they were not directly related to the creation of my marker, several concepts, phrases and general ideas were taken into consideration. I have collected some background information about these artists, their trajectory, their works, as well as what inspired me to look into them to begin with. I have also included a few referrential images that sum up what sparked my interests.

I was here, too

Stop and Think

One of Norm Magnussonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s markers on Main Street in Ridgefield bemoans the decline of small stores. Credit The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.

I was here, too

Norm Magnuson corroboration on the internet (which is a great place to find conflicting accounts and fake news). I chose truth in an online consensus of fact. A: How did you decide on the location / number of the signs? B: They’re always installed at the request of the land owner, a collector, a gallery, a museum. A: To what extent was the materiality of the sign implicated in the work? Did you consider using other materials? A: How did you collect the phrases that you used? Did you interview people, find facts, or create them? B: I wrote them all. In the cases where facts or statistics are presented, I found triple

B: Well... 0% And 100%. I wanted them to be the same material as the existing sign format they subvert. But apart from that, I didn’t really care. If the existing historical markers were made out of cotton, i woulda done so.

A: Did sketching, drawing, planning play in the work have any role in this project? B: I plan them out in photoshop and have even posted photoshop mock ups on instagram (@normmagnusson) where they work exactly the same way as the actual physical cast aluminum ones. A: How do you document a project that is outdoors and around the city? Is the interaction with the public important to you? B: Interaction with the public is crucial for me. I’ve had galleries put them inside. Indoors. Leaned up in the corner. That just doesn’t work for me. That’s not what this series is about. People take pictures. I take pictures. I shoot all of them in front of my house...

I was here, too

Views of the book The clover collection Tacita Dean refers to is the artwork Four, Five, Six and Seven Leaf Clover Collection (1972â&#x20AC;&#x201C;present), featured on pp. 12â&#x20AC;&#x201C;13 of the monograph, which is closely related to the strategies of archiving and sense of serendipity that inform all of her work.

I was here, too

Tacita Dean Tacita Dean (born 1965) is a British visual artist who works primarily in film. She lives and works in Berlin, Germany, and Los Angeles, California. The project that caught my attention was the Phaidos 2008 edition of the book “Tacita Dean: 66 DEAD 4/5 leafed clovers” I appreciated the physical constructions of the publication itself. How the book was contained inside a space and how she included a special envelope, clover-style, to include pieces that were beyond the publication. The story behind the publication seemed very meaningful, as a way to present a collection and a repository of memories:

“On a French exchange, when I was about 13, I was staying in a village I remember being called Pontchateau. My exchange family were pork butchers! One day, I found a whole crop of 4 and 5 leafed clovers in the garden. I had already been collecting them since the age of 8. I picked them all and carefully took them to my room to press them, but was told we had to leave so I put them all in a glass of water. When I returned some hours later, the mother of my French exchange, Mme Morand, had thrown out the water and put the clovers in the bin. I pulled out the clovers but they were already dried and dead so I put them in that envelope which still remains to this day with my clover collection.” Tacita Dean

I was here, too

‘Derwent water, Cumbria’ (1988)

I was here, too

Andy Goldsworthy Andy Goldsworthy (born 1956) is a British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist who produces site-specific sculptures and land art situated in natural and urban settings. He lives and works in Scotland. The materials used in Andy Goldsworthy’s art often include brightly colored flowers, icicles, leaves, mud, pine cones, snow, stone, twigs, and thorns. He has been quoted as saying, “I think it’s incredibly brave to be working with flowers and leaves and petals. But I have to: I can’t edit the materials I work with. My remit is to work with nature as a whole.”

I felt very attracted to the idea of constructing an ephemeral structure, especially over the river. A marker that only the locals that are in that place at that time would be able to see. The impermanent, non-invasive nature of the marker would blend it with the landscape, and would make it belong to the area. I really appreciate the resourcefulness of a project like this, working with natural materials found in the area.

I was here, too

Ode to Forgetting This editioned fabric volume is modeled after a unique book Bourgeois made in 2002 (MoMA collection) using textiles she had saved throughout her life, including scraps of nightgowns, scarves, and hand towels from her wedding trousseau, monogrammed with her initials.

I was here, too

Louise Bourgeois Louise Bourgeois was a French-American artist. She is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, but she was also a prolific painter and printmaker. Burgeois explored a variety of themes over the course of her career, including domesticity and the family, sexuality and the body, as well as death and the unconscious. These themes connect to events from her childhood which she considered to be a therapeutic process. In “Ode to Forgetting”, used and worn fabrics, imbued with sweat and memories, often woven

and washed by the hands of women, was an ideal means to marry the themes Bourgeois explored throughout her artistic career. What I found fascinating about this piece started with her own phrase “ I had a flashback of something that never existed”. To me, that sums this project up: I am looking for imaginary markers around the river, things I might have never seen before, and I almost feel I can remember where they are.

I was here, too

Twinkle, twinkle (2008) https://weiyi.li/index.html#0013

Kuafu Project & Oriental Giants http://bigbadgallery.com

I was here, too

Weiyi Li Weiyi Li is a prolific artist, designer, curator, publisher and retailor. Finding biographical information about her was a challenge. “My research explores the structure and form of manmade objects from a linguistic or semiotic perspective, using a basic formal element ‘hole’ extracted from manmade objects as the main focus of my case study. Rather than trying to explain or verify the formal language contained in objects, my research focuses on the language itself: How is the language extracted? How does it work? As a linguistic or semiotic system, what sign is used and what does it signify? How do people (designers, creators, users) interpret, decode, or use the language itself?”

There were several pieces that resonated with me. In one of the projects, Twinkle, twinkle - 2008, she dressed up as a star and took pictures of herself in many locations, serving as a “human marker”. In Kuafu Project, she “followed” the sun through Google Maps pictures submitted to her. In Oriental Giants she created an interactive map with actual markers that indicated the location of statues of Mao Zedong throuout China. The spectator interaction is vital for the projects. In my case, the participation of the locals has been the way in which I have been collecting the most nuanced information for the project.

I was here, too

Touch

A still picture of the video for the project “Touch”, where Janine Antony “walks” over the horizon line using a tightrope.

I was here, too

Janine Antoni Janine Antoni is a Bahamian–born American artist, who creates contemporary work in performance art, sculpture, and photography. Antoni’s works focus mostly on process and the transitions between the making and finished product. In her project Touch, she works with the idea of “balance” and getting comfortable with beign out of balace. She wanted to bring this feeling to her life. Touch is a video in which Antoni set up a temporary tightrope on the beach in front of her childhood home.

Through the camera, the line of the tight rope appears parallel to the ocean’s horizon as Antoni walks back and forth. Under her weight, the wire dips to touch the horizon allowing Antoni to balance there for just a moment. Antoni says: “I wanted to walk in this impossible place, to walk on the line of my vision, or along the edge of my imagination.” I feel drawn to the idea of “being” in imposible places, touching things that can’t be touched and creating a new place, right between reality and imagination where you can defy the laws of physics.

The River as a Voice

The River as a voice

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Following the sound of the James During my visits around the different parks and trails, I realized that the one thing that was always present in the background was the sound of the river. It had become its own character. The river has its own voice: at moments, soft as a whisper; other times, wild and roaring. The James runs through the heart of Virginia. Its water and shores have been witness to hundreds of years of history. Both before and after the establishment of the English colony of Jamestown on its banks, the James River has played a central and defining role in the development of Virginia.

Now, in my time, when walking through its shores and following its sounds, I am trying to unveil the untold stories of the locals following the sounds of the James.

The river is a storyteller, a living record of our history.

I was here, too

View of Hollywood Cemetary Mausoleums from Belle Isle (North Side) 11:02 AM

I was here, too

Sounds of the James

“Water is fluid, soft and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.” – Lau Tzu

Sound of the James

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Flat Waters

Active Waters

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Playful Waters

Roaring Waters

Creating a Marker

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Creating a marker

I was here, too

Collection of Ideas For me, the creation of the marker was by far, the most difficult part of this project. I knew I wanted to work with the idea of “location” and different ways to achieve that. I wanted a physical object and a digital one. I wanted to intervene in the space, but at the same time, I didn’t want to create waste or damage the landscape in any way. I wanted to work closely to the research I had done, but I didn’t want to make a copy. Simply put, I really didn’t know what to do...

I explored various concepts and ideas. I created a physical marker and took it into the “digital realm” to a certain extend. I see the results as a work in progress with the potential to be translated to different platforms, shapes and outcomes. There is not one final product at this point, and I am not sure if there will ever be. I see this project as an opportunity for exploration, interaction, connection and belonging. Finding my place in this area, leaving my mark(er) is a process that I am still discovering.

Ideas & Context

I was here, too

72 inch Balloon on the James One of my ideas for a physical marker would consist of getting a 72-inch helium balloon with a very long string and letting it float over the James River parks and trails. The documentation would consist of pictures taken with drones, or from the other shore of the river. The locations would be documented through public lists on Google Maps.

I was here, too

Red Transparency Paper Pointer The idea that I ended up pursuing was the creation of a physical pointer made out of plastic transparency paper. The objective was to simulate the Google Maps style pointers. I liked the effects that the trasparency paper created, modifying part of the color of the picture, and evoking location. Some pictues I shared in Google Maps.

Production

I was here, too

Initial Marker My initial test was a simple cut-out of an inverted drop-shape pointer with a base to grab as handles. I liked the effect of the shape in the pictures, but the material was very flimsy and easily affected by the wind. Taking some of the pictures was a challenge and I tried to exlore other options to recreate the effect with a sturdier object.

I was here, too

Possible Solutions: Marker on a Frame Marker on a Social Media Filter Considering how to make this project physical and digital, I thought about two options. The first was to put my transparency paper marker on a frame to make it sturdier and portable, which made me think of polaroid pictures and the idea of being able to see an image immediately after snapping the shot. This took me to my second idea: creating a social media filter that would appear when visiting the river parks and trails. An option to indicate location is already included in this platform, however, what I want to achieve is the color intervention on the picture, that would be modified depending on the weather, location, surface, that the pointer is placed on.

Display

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Pointer In Pony Pastures

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