Revelation, 2024

Vinyl chromogenic print

Height 10.5 feet Length 55.75 feet

Commission, Moody Center for the Arts, Rice University, Houston, TX.

Revelation is a photograph I took in North Philadelphia where I passed through on my way to teach at Temple University. The image and neighborhood recalled several experiences I had while in Houston as a Core Fellow. In 2004 I took a photo in the Third Ward (Double houses) of two decayed houses, mirror images of each other, on my way to teach at the University of Houston. The striking symmetry and double desolation of the houses stopped me in my tracks just as this scene did, and a year later I returned to take a photo of the same dwellings, now completely overgrown and returned to nature (Double house (covered).  I captured this scene (Revelation) after a storm had peeled a thick matting of vines off the wall, depositing a massive, woven rug of living plants across part of the house and fence. The form was sculptural, and intriguing in what it covered and revealed. Though geographically disparate, both the Third Ward and North Philadelphia are parts of an urban sprawl that occasionally feel almost rural, with empty green lots and white post and rail fences, amidst a mix of tidy and dilapidated housing. 

Photo credit: Zeisha Bennett