Harvesting Identity

In the spring of 2018 the project Harvesting Identity was initiated at the Leonard Middle School in Old Town, Maine. Working in conjunction with middle school art teacher Adele Drake, as well as college students and community members involved in the middle school garden project, we grew gourds in molds made from casts of the students’ faces. Participants constrained growing gourds in the molds: creating three-dimensional self-portraits. In the fall of that same year the gourds were harvested from the garden and the students were able to see their likeness created collaboratively with the plant.

Large-scale food producers shape crops, such as watermelons, in order to make packing and shipping more efficient. Our project subverts this practice, shaping gourds to create portraits that are individual and reflect both the character of the subject and the growing fruit. This unique process of production underscores the importance of local food independence and control and encourages reflection about our complex relationships with other species. Integrating this project into the educational curriculum at the middle school also served as the basis for investigation of food issues that relate to contemporary agricultural practices, food insecurity, history and cultural traditions. Our collaboration with students, educators, community members, and the plants themselves celebrates the communal nature of eating and growing our own food. This project was supported with grants from The McGillicuddy Humanities Foundation and the Maine Arts Commission.

Cadence

Under the Silence

Work created during a collaborative residency on Governor’s Island, N.Y. with artist/activist Traci Molloy.

Our exhibit investigated what happens under the surface, where it may seem that all is still. Just as the mycelium under the ground are necessary for the fruiting bodies of mushrooms to emerge, the underlying systems of the human body (like the circulatory system, the lymphatic system etc.) function without our direct attention. By combining the visually accessible results of these hidden systems we are paying homage and reflecting on some of the unseen forces that occur when we seem to be at rest but are necessary for recognizable motion.

Responding to the palimpsest of history in our room on Colonial’s Row, explored adaption and resilience from both cultural and evolutionarily perspectives. The finished installation investigated interspecies entanglements and was guided by questions of visibility and adaptability, trauma and resilience.

A collaborative piece by Susan Camp and Traci Molloy

Indigo-painted antique linen, gourds

Dimensions variable – roughly -14x33x2”

Created for residency exhibition on Governors Island, N.Y. This piece was part of an installation (see more in the installation/performance section). We considered what happens below the surface, both in humans and in plant species - How do bodies – both plants and humans – adapt and modify in order to survive? What is the impact of a moving catalyst, what is the residue, and where does it lead us individually and collectively as a society?

A collaborative piece by Susan Camp and Traci Molloy

Indigo-painted antique linen, latex mushroom casts.

Dimensions variable roughly 18x15”

A collaborative piece by Susan Camp and Traci Molloy

Indigo-painted antique linen, latex mushroom casts.

Dimensions variable roughly 31x28”

Created for residency exhibition on Governors Island, N.Y. This piece was part of an installation (see more in the installation/performance section). We considered what happens below the surface, both in humans and in plant species - How do bodies – both plants and humans – adapt and modify to survive? What is the impact of a moving catalyst, what is the residue, and where does it lead us individually and collectively as a society?

Medusa’s Revenge (Self-Portrait With Progeny)

Mass MoCA – performance

In January of 2020, I was an artist in residence at Mass MoCA. During my time there I worked with natural latex casts made from gourds, wasp nests, mushrooms, and trees to create wearable pieces. These pieces are the start of a body of work exploring how “natural” materials are marketed. With this work, I am considering consumer responsibility and corporate manipulation. How much can we address environmental degradation through our purchasing power? Is “nature” being marketed to us in a way that is designed to make us feel better about buying more and yet sustaining the status quo?

These pictures are from a photo shoot in the museum. Artist Qinza Najm and I wore some of the prototypes. Artist and fashion photographer, Heather Renee Russ, took all the pictures.

Thank you to the museum, assets4artsits, and my amazing new friends. It was so much fun!

Untitled

Constrained Justice

Mount Desert Biological Laboratory

In the spring of 2017 I was privileged to be an artist in residence at the Mount Desert Biological Laboratory, an independent nonprofit biomedical research institution. I spent a week at the facility spending time in the labs and talking with the scientists who are working on the forefront of regenerative medical research.

This innovative project was designed to allow time and space for investigating the overlap between scientific research and the creative arts.

Ways to Read (the language of mapping)

Snake gourds, test tubes, resin, and copper. Installed at the Mount Desert Biological Laboratory.

This installation was created after my interactions with the researchers at the labs. This piece uses the beauty of the natural forms and their lyrical, calligraphic interactions to visually explore some of the ways we read and decode our genetic history.