Erin Jane Nelson, Touch.tank.1, 2016. Archival inkjet print on organza and cotton with Spanish moss, eryngium, cellophane, bay leaves, juniper berries, gypsophila, pearls, embroidered patch, and aluminum, 60 × 48in. (152.4 × 121.9 cm). Collection of the artist
Erin Jane Nelson
b. 1989; Atlanta, GA
In her ceramic works, Erin Jane Nelson memorializes barrier islands of the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts that will likely disappear with rising sea levels. Although they resemble travel keepsakes, Nelson’s ceramics subvert the souvenir and its connotations of leisure and escape. Drawing from vernacular Southern craft (such as sailor’s valentines and memory jugs), she reflects on how the changing climate has radically reshaped both the geography and the collective consciousness of these regions. Many of these nearly vanished sites have complicated legacies of colonialism, slavery, racism, environmental degradation, and militarism. “What are the monuments or memorials we are not able to see?” she asks. “What monuments are undoing themselves?”
Erin Jane Nelson, Live.leaky, 2016. Archival inkjet print on organza and cotton with Spanish moss, cellophane, rose petals, cedar tips, juniper berries, and aluminum, 70 × 48in. (177.8 × 121.9 cm). Collection of the artist
Erin Jane Nelson, Live.leaky, 2016
Erin Jane Nelson, Touch.tank.1, 2016. Archival inkjet print on organza and cotton with Spanish moss, eryngium, cellophane, bay leaves, juniper berries, gypsophila, pearls, embroidered patch, and aluminum, 60 × 48in. (152.4 × 121.9 cm). Collection of the artist
Erin Jane Nelson, Touch.tank.1, 2016
Erin Jane Nelson, Isle de Jean Charles, 2018 (installation view, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York). Resin, pinecone, glass, and archival inkjet print on glazed stoneware, 17 × 12 × 3 1/2 in. (43.2 × 30.5 × 8.9 cm). Collection of the artist; courtesy DOCUMENT, Chicago. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Erin Jane Nelson, Isle de Jean Charles, 2018
Erin Jane Nelson, Frenier, 2018 (installation view, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York). Resin, pinecone, glass, and archival inkjet print on glazed stoneware, 10 3/4 × 11 3/4 × 3 in. (27.3 × 29.8 × 7.6 cm). Collection of the artist; courtesy DOCUMENT, Chicago. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
