Upcoming Show, Bayit by Lisa Nickel and Betty Spackman

November 18 - Dec 6, 2015

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 21, 2- 5 pm

The Fort Gallery invites you to their upcoming show 'BAYIT'

By Lisa Nickel and Betty Spackman

Lisa Nickel’s new painting series, 'BAYIT,' is an exploration of personal and social responsibility based on how we live and how we view the living situations of those in proximity to us, but also of those at a distance from us.

“The word ‘bayit’ used in both the Arabic and Hebrew languages to denote a dwelling place or home, additionally encompasses ambiguous concepts such as feeling at home in images or textual spaces. It addresses how the structuring of words and images builds a place of dwelling for thought and discourse, yet it also references home in terms of human vulnerability and what is required for necessary livable conditions. In this body of work, I use both the literal and metaphorical meanings of ‘bayit’ in order to look at the precariousness of human life, our interconnectedness with the other and the resulting obligations of our cohabitation.”

Lisa

Betty Spackman whose multimedia work has often dealt with issues of home supports Lisa’s theme of ‘BAYIT’, with a series of assemblage works and collages.

“The minimal assemblage pieces I have made for this exhibition are layered iconic architectural forms representing ‘house’; the ideals of dwellings based on particular ways of defining ‘home’ in terms of property and power that we use as a platform from which to judge success and failure. Yet the actual places where we dwell are less secure, and how we actually live as vulnerable human beings is not so ideal. Recent world events in places like Syria underline our inability as humans to manage the practical and ethical problems of power in the face of our inevitable vulnerability, and the potential of homelessness. I think, with Lisa, that our responses to one another in the midst of these life-altering personal and social confrontations define us as human beings.”

Betty