ANDERSON Gallery

“Sometimes in place of despair, art is our greatest mechanism for providing core hope.”  Patti Smith

In 2023, we traveled to Germany and Poland, returning just when the Israeli kidnappings and subsequent horrific Gaza war began. We reflected on the mass killings of the holocaust,

genocide, war and devastation in Gaza; and atrocities that are now occurring and have been

throughout history, including the current threats on democracy. These events simultaneously

inspired us to make work to mark collective grief. We were awarded an artist residency in January 2023 in Urubumba, Peru to begin exploring construction of small paper sculptures that reflect devastation and atrocities, historical and contemporary — a means of witnessing loss and channeling sorrow into material form.

We worked for over a year to complete more than 100 sculptures, with similar shapes and forms, but no two alike. Together, they formed a stark landscape echoing our grief as the Gaza war deepened and democratic institutions felt increasingly precarious.  Realizing we needed to include a gesture towards healing and hope, we made more sculptures, this time pigmented with a glowing saffron color. 

At its first showing in June 2025 at theBarn gallery in Eureka, we witnessed viewers move slowly around the work—some brought to tears, others lingering to discover each sculpture’s unique presence. The installation sparked heartfelt dialogue and reflection. Many told us: it must have been powerful to do something with your hands, in the face of so much grief. And indeed, the act of making became a way to process despair, transforming it into shared space and conversation.

We hope our installation reflects finding beauty in the struggle to nurture hope, while remembering and honoring the devastation, loss of life, and culture due to senseless violence, atrocity, and war. We hold all who suffered and diedin memoriam.