Pink city, Green branches revisited

As for me, I know nothing else but miracle,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or stand under the trees in the woods.
– Walt Whitman

Life does not and cannot stand still. Its beauty rests in impermanence. We look at nature and the human imagination, the forest and the city, and the encounter of the everyday miracle of a new baby with wonder.

Pink city, Green branches revisited is a collaborative reimagining of the installation created for Impact 10 in Santander, Spain, 2018, by artists Yael Brotman and Libby Hague. Growth is an underlying theme in the installation. It implies movement, which is present in the upward thrust of the pink city and the swaying motion of the green branches; in the placement of the geometric shapes; and in the three tiny figures that embody care and bind one generation to another.

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Yael Brotman installation statement

In my practice I explore our architectural structures: I am in awe of human inventiveness and creative ambition. Along with awe comes the realization of the implication of hubris of our building enterprise. But there are also aspects of fun and absurdity in our urge to build.

The structures of Pink city, Green branches grow to an impossible hot pink height with nodes of chaotic bulges. In this collaboration, the green branches gracefully intertwine with the built structures to suggest that the natural strand and the constructed strand are inseparable in human life.

Libby Hague installation statement

Thematically, my work examines the fragility of goodness and humane and complex social relationships in our precarious world. Alone we are thrown into a brutal and primitive world that swirls with anger, resentment and prejudice. In spite of myths of self-reliance our best selves are social; we need others. We want to belong. We want our lives to have a purpose, a meaning beyond survival. The meaning offered here is friendship, support and opportunities for growth.

Here, both the natural and constructed landscapes support each other as do the two collaborating printmakers.

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The artists wish to thank Michael Brotman for his installation assistance in Spain and in Toronto.

Installation materials: screenprint, woodblock print, beach detritus, cords, die-cut, foam core, hand-colouring, pine cones, rubber kite connectors, theatre lighting gels, wooden rods, velcro, stones and strings.