How Many Ways Can You Disappear, 2021

Abandoned (washed ashore) potwarp and buoys; rope reproduced in salt

15 ft. w. 8 ft. 2 in. d. 6 ft. 1 in.

This sculpture consists of a tangled mass of commercial fishing rope/lobster traps and buoys I recovered from Matinicus Island, Maine in 2013. No longer functional, the ropes still hold the sea in the form of embedded salt. A rope fabricated of salt (with in-set hanging hardware) is attached to the ceiling. The title comes from a poem, "Return #14" by Canisia Lubrin. An excerpt—

how many ways can you disappear

a people, dignity by dignity, slant

word by slant word, who turn grave,

grave by grave, by the curve and measure

of graves after typhoons, cyclones,

the mounting electro wastelands by the fresh-

water, and wrath of tumors as bright

brush on the forehead, or covering over knees,

the work of minutes grating against

millions in flooded cities…

Photo credit: Pierre Le Hors