Suspended like a vortex of rain, a new installation emerges Caitlind RC Brown and Wayne Garrett leads viewers into a shimmering space.
“A Whisper in the Eye of the Storm” dangles 14,000 prescription lenses from a pair of concentric circles. Made for the Northern Alps Art Festival in Omachi City, the site-specific work evokes the region’s historical relationship with water.
Covered with heavy snow in winter and drenched during rainy summers, the city experiences several wet seasons. It lies at the foot of the Japanese mountain range and features natural features such as lakes, hot springs and hydroelectric dams. Omachi has also seen its population shrink rapidly in recent years.
Brown and Garrett have previously worked with found, recycled objects such as light bulbs and telephones. Nestled behind Nishina Shrine along the shore of Lake Kizaki, this new piece repurposes spectacles that capture and refract sunlight and magnify the surrounding cedar forest, drawing the viewer’s gaze to the larger natural world around them.
“The work invites visitors to look at the landscape (and each other) with fresh eyes, to look differently and to peer deeply into the ancient and evolving landscape,” say the artists.
“A Whisper in the Eye of the Storm” is on view through November 4. Find more from Brown and Garrett at their website.
