Spread Wild: Pleasures of the Yucca
Smack Mellon
Paula Wilson’s mixed-media installation transforms Smack Mellon’s industrial space into a landscape resembling the high desert plains of New Mexico, where the artist currently lives. Central among the flora and fauna depicted are the yucca plant and yucca moth. Their pollination ritual represents a quintessential example of mutualism, which Wilson reimagines as a love scene. She outfits the gallery’s towering columns as larger than life naturalists who act as guides and observers of the display. By portraying an untold narrative of black and brown environmentalists, Wilson draws connections between the human rights and environmental movements and offers a paradigm for how embracing the natural world can engender harmony.
Smack Mellon
92 Plymouth St.
Brooklyn, NY 11201
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