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| Location for Vigil, Clermont State Historic Site, 2016 |
VIGIL: a space for memory
September 17 – October 16, 2016
Visiting hours: Fri - Sun from 11am to 2pm
Clermont State Historic Site, Germantown, NY
Opening: September 17th from 3-6pm
Community Sing hosted by the Threshold Choir
September 25th from 2-3pm
VIGIL: a space for memory is a site-based
installation exploring the power of loss and remembrance through a unique
auditory experience. Ignited by my ongoing work with a community of women
continuing the tradition of bedside singing to the dying, the project encourages visitors to
acknowledge the passing of time and the complexity of grief while visiting a
historic home that has itself witnessed countless deaths, war, and
rebirths.
Clermont's
rich past, played out over centuries on the bank of the Hudson, encourages
visitors to consider their relationship to the site as both tourists and
participants in the greater history of humanity--sitting with others who have
walked the same path, or imagining those who have arrived and departed
before.
Housed
in a former milk shed attached to the main house,the installation provides
an intimate environment, creating a holding space for
contemplating loss, and allowing these emotions to be processed in a
public way, thus shattering the cultural norm of silence surrounding death and
mourning.
To deepen the experience of the exhibition, and
to welcome community engagement on
the grounds of Clermont State Historic Site,
members of the Westchester and Hudson Valley Threshold Choirs (accompanied by members from NYC) will
lead a Community Sing on September 25 from 2-3pm. The Threshold Choir is an international organization,
which trains singers to sing at the bedside of the sick and dying. During
the Community Sing the choir will offer healing songs to sing along with, or
simply listen to.
For more about the project and my work go here
Acknowledgements:
This
project has been made possible in part through funds from the Pollination
Project.
Numerous people contributed significantly to the realization of this
project and I am deeply grateful for
the assistance and support of the following individuals: Susan Boudreau and Conrad Hanson for granting me the unique
opportunity to create an audio work for the grounds of Clermont and their
support throughout the project, Cindy Harris and members of the Pittsburgh
Threshold Choir for inviting me into their process and leading me to begin
singing in NYC, singer and songwriter Annie Garretson for her guidance and song
permissions, Dorothy Calvani, Winnie Lee, and Marcia Picciotto for their open
voices, editor and writer Linnea Marik, audio producer Josie Holtzman and
designer Amanda Chung.
Vigil
was conceived after losing my father Gary G. Davis in 2013, and is
created in memory of all those who have arrived and departed before us.
