Deborah Jack’s Multimedia Exhibit
The current exhibit in Muhlenberg’s Martin Art Gallery is the multimedia art of Deborah Jack. The exhibit is available in Martin Art Gallery from August 31 to October 15. The art in the gallery is a reflection of Deborah Jack and her life experiences. Jack had a talk at Muhlenberg to discuss her exhibit and the evolution of her art. Jack said one of her main interests in life has always been the ocean, specifically the border between the ocean and the rest of the world.
the water between us remembers, so we carry this history on our skin... long for a sea-bath and hope the salt will heal what ails us
Deborah Jack was born in the Netherlands, grew up in St. Martin in the Caribbean, and now lives in the U.S. For this reason, one of the ocean borders she focuses on is the border between the Atlantic and the Caribbean Oceans, as well as the border between ocean and land. Jack said the ideas of memories and culture, both hers and others, come up in her work a lot. One of her fascinations with the ocean has to do with the slaves being taken over on boats from Africa to the Americas. Some of the slaves would jump out of the boats to try and escape. Most were caught and killed. Jack believes that if someone dies in an unjust way, their spirits do not rest and that their spirits are what become hurricanes in the Caribbean.
Later in her career, Jack began to think about landscape. One of her main fascinations with the ocean is that it is always moving, whereas landscape is the opposite. It hardly ever moves, and when it does, you can rarely see it. Jack started taking pictures in St. Martin using film cameras, and then edited the photos back in the United States. The fact that it took her a couple of months to edit the photos helped her think more about memory because she would feel nostalgic for home, and would bring those memories into her work.
Jack’s work with landscape is what led to her current work currently on view in the Martin Art Gallery. The video that is the main part of the show is a girl walking from land to sea and back while holding a tree branch. The branch is from a tree in St. Martin called a July tree because the flowers only bloom in July. The colors of the flowers are very bright and are illuminated no matter what their surroundings. The tree is actually known for being very destructive, even sometimes breaking through the foundation of houses. The destructibility and the beauty of the tree always fascinated Jack, which is why she decided to use it in her work.
When one walks into the dark space of the gallery, Jack’s work engulfs you, and makes you feel very separate from the rest of the world. There is music in the background and the magnified sound of the Caribbean Ocean. Jack’s work, the darkness, and the music completely encase the viewer in the world of the art, and it is worth a visit for anyone who has a chance to check it out.