Collective Growth: Art by Jarica Walsh at 21c Museum Hotel Oklahoma City

Jarica Walsh, Collective Healing, cyanotype, printed with plant materials collected from several of the gardens visited for Hope Flags.

by Gianna Martucci-Fink

Jarica Walsh’s process is one that returns to both the earth and community through the shared experience of a garden. A place that requires care, attention, love, and maintenance by the gardener, but also a place to retire, gather, and be. The return to nature has been heightened over the course of the past year, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, as we sought after activities old and new, to occupy our newfound time and looked for meaningful distractions in the wake of tragedy and fear. Reflecting on these times of uncertainty and comradery are the core ideas behind Walsh’s latest series Collective Growth which is currently displayed at the 21c Museum Hotel in Oklahoma City. Featuring her Hope Flags installation and works on paper, her photogram prints reflect community relationships with nature in the pandemic, while documenting the plant life and thought processes of the individuals from which they were harvested.

The importance of a self-cognitive and meditative process has been a steady part of Walsh’s work. Take her ceramic talisman-like vessels for example, which evoke strength in concept, body, and spirit, but vulnerability in structural integrity as she meticulously carves out clay to create repetitive negative space. More importantly, the belief in the healing quality and impact of her art and objects is that they are infused with positivity and blessings. As the memory or negative image of her commonly composed vessels appear synonymously amongst the foliage in her Hope Flags, printed on fabric through cyanotype techniques, it is evident that this installation is transferring healing imagery to the viewer. Just as Walsh’s physical objects intended, their visual reference in the installation is only solidified through the pairing of contextual quotes from the fellow gardeners on the verso side of the flags. Including the names or partial names of each shared quote, one citation from Lin and Ernesto Sanchez reads “gardening has been a gift of normalcy in the midst of chaos,” or as E Sidler explains “the garden reminds me to take the long view.” Practicing the long view, or slow-looking strategies, within the exhibition space is also a mindset Walsh has instilled in her viewers. The calming and constructed aesthetics between the balance of nature and design, now create a unifying and extended presence while considering her works on paper. Much like the flags, here, the composition in each printed work is broken up by the physical transference of plant life in the photogram printing process, but the hands of the artist hold a stronger presence. Exploring the use of cyanotype printing techniques more broadly, there is an unrefined but intentional painterly quality residing in the cyan-blue color field, which is created by brushing on the two-part chemical solution (ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide), that when sun-kissed darkens its shade. As Walsh uses cyanotype printing at the majority of each location, including the First Americans Museum grounds, the results consist of raw images inspired by the natural exposure to UV light in its original environment.

“Printed by the earth itself” you could say is the foundation of the exhibition— conceptually it is not only a practical way (continued to page 6)

of documenting the plant life, but the negative image or ghost of where the plant once was, reminds us of the trauma, loss, and hardship this year has brought upon us. By losing the plant’s intricacies in the photogram images, Walsh calls attention to each unique shape and pattern— legible enough to understand the image but ambiguous in its introspection, as each print will resonate differently for each viewer.

In order for collective healing to transpire from collective trauma, she creates an inviting and reflective space so we can contemplate our shared experiences. Although the gardens and interactions with community members in Walsh’s visual record reside in Oklahoma, people globally are choosing to reconnect with land, acting as a mutual exchange of nourishment and comfort between us and mother earth. However, it is important to understand that the next chance you have to experience Walsh’s work, whether Collective Growth or even a future series, you do not have to be a gardener or plant buff to experience her work to the fullest. She simply asks us to acknowledge the roots of our existence, treat our earth and each other with respect, and in doing so through our own personal growth and beautiful vulnerability we begin to heal, and so does our community flourish in our garden.

The Collective Growth exhibition is on view in Gallery 4 on the first floor through mid-summer 2021. For visitor information, please visit 21cmuseumhotels.com/ oklahomacity. To see more of Jarica Walsh’s artwork, visit jaricawalsh.com. n

Gianna Martucci-Fink is a visual artist with an emphasis on sculpture and printmaking, who uses feminist and posthumanist theory to address contemporary consumerist culture. Additionally, she is the Co-Host and Co-Creator of Artpop Talk—a podcast that explores the intersections between art history and pop-culture, engaging with a community of art learners every week.