And If We Should Pass Here

9’ x 17’ 9” x 4’ 7”

Fabricated steel, and vinyl paint

2017

2017 FSP/Jerome Fellow

Artist Statement

In And If We Should Pass Here, the three-dimensional outline of a stone wall is traced in the air by mortar alone, like the skeleton of a wall without its substance. The transparency of the form subverts the act of partition inherent to the very existence of a wall; rather than separating the two sides, it reveals their continuity and highlights the artificiality of these boundaries. We see through the wall and, in doing so, recognize that the land on both sides is the same earth; the people the same community. This notion is further emphasized by the scale and placement of the piece: alone within a wide field, the wall segment neither protects nor divides, but simply disrupts the visitor’s passage, forcing him to change paths and calling attention to the arbitrary nature of such divisions.

Rather than a site of exclusion, the wall becomes a locus of exchange. We can look through it, speak across it, play on it. Instead of forming a barrier between visitors, the structure fosters interaction between them, as well as between the viewer and his environment. The open “stones” of the wall serve as a framing device, offering the visitor an ever-changing view of the parkland and its broad community of artists and visitors.

Samantha Holmes

https://www.samantha-holmes.com/

Born: Carmel, NY, USA, 1998

Resides: New York, NY, USA

Education

MFA, Accademia di Belle Arti di Ravenna, 2014

BA, Harvard University, 2006