Whitney Biennial 2017
Mar 17–June 11, 2017
Cauleen Smith
52
Floor 1 and 5
Born 1967 in Riverside, CA
Lives in Chicago, IL
Cauleen Smith, who trained as a filmmaker, designed the elaborately hand-stitched banners on view in the Biennial to be used in processions. The works stem in part from the artist’s sense of disgust and fatigue when confronted with video after video offering evidence of police violence against Black people. Texts sewn on one side of the banners use pronouns like “I,” “you,” and “we”—grounding them in personal experience but also acknowledging our complicated shared history as citizens. Smith’s language unfolds like a poem or series of film stills, expressing complexity and contingency as well as frustration, resistance, and mourning. On the other side of the banners, private symbols—including instruments of communication, drops of blood, and surrogates for the human body—suggest the urgent need to be heard in a time of struggle.
In the Wake, 2017
Cauleen Smith, In the Wake, 2017. Satin, poly-satin, quilted pleather, upholstery, wool felt, wool velvet, indigo-dyed silk-rayon velvet, indigo-dyed silk satin, embroidery floss, metallic thread, acrylic fabric paint, acrylic hair beads, acrylic barrettes, satin cord, polyester fringe, poly-ilk- tassels, plastic-coated paper, and sequins. Sixteen components, 60 × 48 in. (152.4 × 121.9 cm) each. Collection of the artist; courtesy Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, and Kate Werble Gallery, New York. Sewed by: Keeley Haftner, Elgee King, Jinn Bronwen Lee, Kate S. Lee, Elizabeth Van Loan, April Martin, Nicole Mauser, Magritte Emanuel Nankin, Carolina Poveda, Darling Shear, Danielle Wordelman