Ghost Acre
Painting for the garden at The James Hotel, 27 Grand Street, NYC. Opened May 1, 2013.
Ghost acreage is extraterritorial land annexed for production. Historically, American land was used to produce cotton for space-constrained Europe; today variations of this practice can be found everywhere in industrial production from food to electronics.
The designs for the Urban Garden pillar at The James Hotel were generated by sampling from visual and historical markers on 6th Avenue immediately adjacent to the pillar. Examples include the multicolored z-shaped crosswalk pavers, the Avenue of the Americas lamppost medallions and the statue of Juan Pablo Durate who helped found the Dominican Republic and establish its independence from Hati.
During the colonial period, residents of Lower Manhattan and Carribean countries shared the experience of being subjects and revolutionaries. While mostly invisible today, evidence of these histories can be found just outside the Urban Garden.
Production photos can be found here
Press
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Greenpoint artist’s mural is the talk of SoHo, Paula Katinas, May 13, 2013