eliza myrie
2016 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship
project candy, 2012. 1.75 x 1 x 1.5 inches, sugar, cellophane
Made in editions of purple/grape flavor green/lime flavor red/strawberry flavor orange/orange flavor, the
handmade candies are sized such that they are small enough to fit within a person’s mouth, but also
large enough that they cannot comfortably close their mouth.
raze/raise-topple/top pull, 2012. Each approximately 8 x 2 x 6 inches, cord length variable, poplar, basswood, pine, cotton cord, crown molding
raze/raise-topple/top pull considers the monumental task of raising tall buildings manually.The miniaturized
wooden building-tops are strung through with two cords--one right, one left--attached to a cross bar,
hung from a loop. The toy buildings climb, a bit of cord at a time, as each of their strings is alternately
pulled. Once they reach the cross bar at the top the tension on the strings can be released and the
building barrels back down to rest. raze/raise-topple/top pull uses the Chicago cityscape as reference to
toy with the motion of construction and the direction of labor.
At the top of each object in raze/raise-topple/top pull there is a horizontal cross bar. As a patron pulls on
the strings, the cross bar winds clockwise and counter clockwise alternately. The crossbar rubs against
the drywall each time someone uses the toy. Eventually, and finally, what is left of the work is a gouge
in the drywall specific to the history of that toy’s use during that exhibition.
Can I Give You the Time, Dear Brother?, 2013. 7 feet, (digital composite) drum clock, steel
Can I Give You the Time, Dear Brother? a proposed project, most completely asks the question of
where and how we locate meaning in a work. The site of the proposed project held a clock previously
and would mount an over-sized clock in the same place. How does the re-injection of time, visualized
though the clock as an object, affect the way in which the community understands itself? If time is an
organizing principle, is the previous absence of time dependent on or conflated with the neighborhood
demographics? Is the absence of time related to those seeking employment, the clockers, those that
work on the street, the debilitated or infirm, or those being reintroduced into civil society? The work forgoes representation in order to address layered notions of temporality within a site that has a complex
relationship to time.
untitled(timbre), 2011.Dimensions variable, paper
timbre uses handmade objects formed in studio to express liminality. How does a sheet of wood-grain
patterned paper relate to a paper pillar constructed of the same patterned paper to imitate a 2 x 4? The
relation that exists materially via their processes of production and marked here visually by the repetitive pattern seeks to draw attention to a multiplicity of states of being that a single material can take on.
ohh manute(air dancer), 2012. 18 feet, fabric and fan
The NYT’s obituary of NBA player Manute Bol was accompanied by a small photo. On the court Bol
is framed alone captured with his lanky arms high above his 7’ 7” frame; his stance rife with social associations especially for a man of African descent. The posture encapsulates all that have ever raised
their hands in surrender. The spectrum begins with cartoons exasperatingly admitting defeat, moves to
graceless comedic punchlines at the expense of token black characters claiming innocence, and finally
to the stark conclusion of those unlawfully killed while surrendering to law enforcement. The series capitalizes on the reproducibility of Bol’s likeness, altering and outputting the image numerous times. The
basketball player is flattened into a stand-in. The proxy becomes a material through which to investigate
notions of scale, seriality, framing and recognition. ohh manute(air dancer) suggests a reanimation of a
breathless entity, maintaining Bol’s status as a performer even in death.
diamond, diamond, graphite, installation view 2014. dimensions variable, graphite, paper
diamond, diamond, graphite uses the 1967 discovery of a 601 carat diamond in Lesotho as the departure
from which two materials: diamonds and graphite-both allotropes of carbon-are used to explore the
allegorical possibilities of Ernestine Ramaboa, the diamond’s discoverer. I make full page monochrome
drawings from a block of graphite that is being formed into a diamond structure in order to image
Ramaboa and create a relationship between the material transferred onto the paper from the form and
the final object in the process of its creation.
diamond, diamond, graphite, detail 2014. dimensions variable, graphite, paper
building a wall through my father (dress rehearsal), 2015. mortar, wood, plastic, each approx. 6
x 8 x 10 inches
building a wall through my father(dress rehearsal) is the companion to a conceptual sculpture, building a wall through my father, where I apprentice with my father, a retired brick mason. That project will
document our work together during the construction/destruction of a 65 foot wall across our property in
Jamaica.
building a wall through my father (dress rehearsal) equals the length of a single course of the wall to be
built. The artistic labor required to make the materials supplants the physical manifestation of the wall as
its potentiality exists in the materials themselves. Using the miniature the totality of the wall can be seen
and imagined in its most perfect form.
sandwall, Negril, Jamaica, 2015. Approx 120 x 5 x 18 inches, sand
photo documentation from a series of sculptures built on various waterfronts. sandwall examines the
construction and inevitable degradation of structures built with materials that can not sustain their form,
ruminating on permanence, materiality, and intention.
sandwall, Chicago, Illinois, 2015. Approx 120 x 5 x 18 inches, sand