Description
Poppy Jackson’s performance Hay Barn took place in 2015 in Rosekill, New York as part of the Essential Departures symposium and performance festival. It was the first work Poppy Jackson made where she sat on the apex of the roof of a building. There was no health and safety rope or harness, just her body and the 1940s building.
‘These red hay barns were traditionally painted with oxblood for protection and are emblematic of American rural tradition and iconic within American art history. This particular one had become the centre of the Essential Departures symposium and festival I co-curated with Jill McDermid and Tiff Robinette in Upstate New York. The tallest ladder of Rosekill still didn’t quite reach the top of the barn, so the ascent and descent was challenging as I’m actually not good with heights! Ming Lu, an audience member, sent me this afterwards which sums up the feeling for me: “The work was perfectly composed, calm and contemplative, but required so much focus and strength to pull it off. I lost track of time, I had no idea how long Poppy was up there, after a while she became part of the barn and farm, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary taking place and it was just another typical Saturday evening on the farm. But at one point I looked up and saw her still sitting there as if in some kind of ancient ritual to exorcise everything she had to wrestle with to be where she was, high up there doing a performance that’s deeply personal and creatively open at the same time.”’
– Poppy Jackson
The drawing Site that Poppy Jackson made in 2010, which inspired her roof apex performances, is also part of Pathways Home Collection, as well as a Fine Art Print version of it.
You can see more photos and explore all artworks on the Pathways Home Collection webpage.
Details:
Poppy Jackson, Hay Barn, 2015
Photograph by Maria Forque, direct print on aluminium Dibond
Edition of one hundred and fifty, signed and numbered
Dimensions: 15 x 10 cm
