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<-- February 6, 2010 - As part of the Friends Seminary "Peace Week" celebration, I worked with parents and students to create an 8 x 8 foot clothing sculpture.

After a month, most of the clothing was sent to Haiti to support the relief effort.

Silence

This site specific installation was created for System:System, an exhibition within an unoccupied 19th century convent.

The show was curated by Adam Henry and Christina Vassallo of Super Square and Random Number.

In a former nun's quarters, I filled a doorway with second-hand clothing, walling off an interior space. Garments reclaimed from previous projects were randomly ordered, resulting in distinct value layers (which you can see if you squint a bit). More than any other work I have created, this piece reminds me of a geological cross-section.

I named this piece silence to address my mixed feelings about religion. On the one hand, I am regularly discriminated against by various religious leaders and individuals for being gay. On the other hand, I was raised a Christian. I've been the benefactor of Christian generosity (the space granted for this show for example). In the context of this heavily symbolic space, silence refers to self-oppression, to a spiritual vow of silence and also to the fact that these works absorb sound.

Into the Fold
On September 24th, 2009, I created a monumental sculpture from 3,615 pounds of second-hand clothing.  The resulting piece was a 5 x 7 foot cube made in 4 sections.

Why 3,615 pounds?  That's the amount of textile waste created by New Yorkers every 5 minutes. 

Clothing for the event was loaned by the textile recycling company, Wearable Collections.

© Derick Melander, 2010
Both Videos by Adam Kaufman