Ginevra Shay

Rose Arcade: Anise Hyssop

Lyndon Barrois Jr., Jashin Friedrich,
Azim Al Ghussein, Ian Miles Gerson, Joan Jonas,
Josie Keefe, Arnold J. Kemp, Jessica Lynne,
Megan O’Hearn, Letha Wilson, Lu Zhang

64-09 Woodside Ave Queens, NY Sunday,
Aug 26, 2018 6:00—9:00 pm

pocket was a field
orangey pink fold’d into green wrinkle
yellow perforation
i mean dusky pale corrugation

hands touch or hands kiss touching every single finger

gust mist whirr hum
curl
trash can sweating
turned on by a subway sign

red and white and barricaded

i could steal that plant but i’m not going to verticillaster inflorescent
false whorl
what used to be smoke

absorbing fuzzy endeavor

laurel—as time passes the green becomes brighter clouds spin
memories swarm like flies
waxing at twi-like

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I had acquired work from Azim Al Ghussein who is from the UAE but was living in Richmond and attending graduate school at VCU. He responded to the announcement of the US travel ban by making traditional soaps from each of the countries in the Middle East and Africa that were part of it and giving those soaps away for free in art exhibitions that he was participating in. Initially, this work was supposed to be part of an exhibition I was invited to curate in a small gallery in the LES in NYC but I eventually decided to cancel the show. I didn't feel like the space was reverent enough for the work Azim was making and I felt committed to building a group exhibition around his work that created a restorative and gestural space. So I paused and spent a year thinking about other spaces. Eventually this brought me to artist Casey Tang's permaculture garden in Queens and building a show with artists who were speaking to transition, in themselves, or nature, or their land.

The poem, like all Rose Arcade writing, serves as a companion piece to the exhibition rather than traditional didactic text. Initially I created the annotated version of this poem to share with the participating artists but now I'd like to share it with you.