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Art in the market

Installation invites visitors to “walk with the ancestors”

by Lou Ann Matossian

Published: Thursday March 05, 2009

In forShadows by Jackie Hayes, historic photographs of the Armenian Genocide by eyewitness Armin Wegner are projected over skull-like face masks, illuminated in an eerie green. Melanie Heinrich

Minneapolis - While helping her daughter research a school project on the Armenian Genocide, artist Jackie Hayes was inspired to create a work of her own.

“I am always thinking about how to frame the Genocide with my children,” says Ms. Hayes, who is of Armenian descent, as she shares two historic images.  “There are only a few of these photos in existence, and since my childhood, they have been an important part of what holds the truth of the Genocide and are therefore laden with a special significance for me.

“I carry these kinds of images and sensations with me as I walk through my day to day,” she adds. “I am pretty sure this particular sensation – walking with my Armenian past – is experienced uniquely for Armenians, though I know the general notion of walking among ancestors is shared with other cultures.”

Ms. Hayes’ installation forShadows, which continues through March 21, invites visitors to “walk with the ancestors” into the multicultural space of the Midtown Global Market, juxtaposing the wisdom of Armenian folklore with the life and work experiences of the vendors and staff, many of whom are recent immigrants.

A black shroud covers the entrance to the cavelike space, which is bathed in an eerie green light. An arc of skull-like face masks near the floor, overlaid with a jumpy alternating projection of grainy black-and-white photos, creates an otherworldly, but not entirely somber, first impression.

Wondering how others struggle with their own complicated cultural identities, Ms. Hayes occupied a corner of the Marketplace during the months of January and February, building her installation while conversing with Marketplace workers. Their wisdom and knowledge, revealed in snippets of conversation projected on a wall, suggest commonalities with an Armenian proverb, rewritten in a spiral typography rotating slowly overhead.

“As I developed this piece and began to think about walking with ancestors, I made the decision to create a work that would speak to where I come from emotionally/spiritually in respect to my ancestors,” the artist explains. “Just as important, I created an avenue to speak to the place of possibility – of transformation – where we can look forward rather than back as we walk through our lives as Armenians. I have used the metaphor of the earth, the horizon, and the sky as a way into representing those who came before us, those with whom we walk, and places we aim to reach outside/above that which we are given.”

Most recently a member of the faculty in Goddard College's MFA Interdisciplinary Arts program, Ms. Hayes has been an artist and arts activist for over 20 years in Northern California, San Francisco, New York, and now Minneapolis. Trained as a theater director and theorist, she has directed many pieces in collaboration with playwrights and performance artists. As the founder of the Minneapolis' Center for Performing Arts, Ms. Hayes spent 12 years managing dozens of artists and hundreds of students from different disciplines, as well as created performance festivals in San Francisco and New York City.

“Re-membering and re-constructing Armenian identity has been a consistent theme in my work over the past decade as I sort through how to honor and how to transform the leftovers of genocide into an empowering experience,” she says.

Guests will have a chance to experience Ms. Hayes’ work as they walk through the exhibit installed in the northeast corner of the Market. forShadows will be open from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 5 p.m. through 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday evenings.

“I have given myself the flexibility to keep this installation evolving over the course of the month so that I can shift, adjust, and add to the piece over time,” says Hayes. “My hope is that it functions as a vehicle for contemplation and reflection and in some way, through the lens of my own Armenian identity, bring us closer together.”

connect:
jackiehayesprojects.com
midtownglobalmarket.com or 1-612-872-4041