POINT OF DEPARTURE
2007
gouache, acrylic and ink on paper
Point of Departure is a large suite of 40 small, inter-related paintings from my ongoing work focusing on Filipina nurses and immigration narratives. In an exhibition context, each of the paintings is compositionally tied to another, in groupings both horizontal and vertical, somewhat like a crossword puzzle.
When the paintings were initially exhibited in 2007, I made postcards of several of the images, and had them available as free art that museum visitors could take with them. These postcards bore the URL for a Point of Departure web project, as a means of invitation. It’s not yet complete, but you’re welcome to view what’s currently up by clicking here. Once the site is fully operational, visitors will be able to rearrange the paintings into their own narratives, along horizontal or vertical grids.
Static images aren’t really all that static: the same story can be told multiple ways.