CAROLYN GENNARI

Composed as a series of fifteen modular sculptures, Studies In Ice explores emblems of landscape as narrative devices. Referencing 19th century engravings, these pieces borrow visual gestures and mark making found in early depictions of the arctic. Expeditions launched by British admiralty relied on the visual materials they brought back, and these materials in turn spurred the public interest that drove and justified further exploration.

More than just three-dimensional objects; Studies In Ice plays with layers of representation and translation and explores interactive sculpture as part of the material fabric of a narrative event.

My approach for designing this series combines draws from 19th century engravings of arctic landscapes and combines my family’s tradition of ice carving.

Within the video-space, these sculptures circulate from representational objects to metaphorical devices that lose stability and are no longer confined to their point of origin. Playing off of romanticized images that circulated widely during the 19th century, these scultpures play with present-day assumptions and call attention to time and the changing landscape.