Fearful Symmetry, 2019, Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH

In the installation, Fearful Symmetry, the far wall is made of hand-cut roofing paper simulating scorched tree forms backlit with blue lighting. At the center is a kiln-cast glass “mirror” that instead of reflecting the viewer, reflects a splitting, doubling scene of factories and cooling towers. On the right wall is a layered video of a dark, mountainous landscape and the geometric elements from the fire tower stair where the video was shot. The motifs of mirrors and picture frames reference the mediation that occurs between looking and distilling a memory. Through these domestic objects, a connection is drawn to Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School’s “Claude glass,” a dark mirror for aiding compositions when en plein air sketching. In Fearful Symmetry, juxtaposed elements of video, sound and architectural structure echo fairytales and horror films. The paper-cuttings, like life-sized versions of Grimm’s fairytale silhouettes, contrast with the sound and video collected near Fernald, OH- a superfund site housing nuclear waste that has been turned into a nature preserve. The ideas of environmental “horror” is emphasized by the soundscape as birdsong is eclipsed by construction noise. A cast glass oval at the center connects our current relationship with land and wilderness to Cole’s Claude Glass.

ALICE PIXLEY YOUNG

ALICE PIXLEY YOUNG