Home Scar

Home Scar, a solo exhibition by Heather Simon
at RISE: Rockaway Institute for a Sustainable Environment 

Opening Reception: Saturday, September 15, 2pm-6pm
On Display: 9/15-10/13

58-03 Rockaway Beach Blvd
Far Rockaway, NY 11692
Take the Rockaway-Bound "A" Train to Beach 60th St Station
RISE is just across the street. 
“Nearly every limpet will return to the one spot where its shell fits exactly the rock below…To accomplish this the limpet has either to grind the surface of the rock to fit the margin of the shell or else make the margin fit the irregularities.”—1001 Questions Answered About the Seashore
Home Scar is a poetry comic installation that explores the intimate and unstable relationship between humans and the shoreline on the Rockaway Peninsula. The work considers the psychological impact of environmental trauma, as well as the damages caused by humans as they anchor themselves into the landscape. There is a looseness to the visual language as it tells the story of coastal dwellers embracing, rebuilding, and refusing to abandon their ephemeral home.
Heather works in ink and watercolor on paper. There is a lightness to the wet medium that reflects the fluidity of the landscape and its inhabitants. The colors are translucent, allowing the penned contours to remain visible. Meanwhile, the entangled lines wrestle within individual forms, offering a sense of connectivity and motion—a constant redefining and interdependence. The figures, which often avoid clear gender presentation can be found reaching, clinging, and contorting their bodies in an attempt to hold an artifact (like a horseshoe crab shell) or something untouchable (like the moon). Surreal moments, like an uprooted home or a reef growing out of a cinderblock are often drawn from real accounts of destruction and restoration following Hurricane Sandy. Yet in the context of the collection, elements of fantasy function as metaphors for attachment, vulnerability, and hope.
Additionally, Heather reconstructs her field-notes and sketches into delicate handmade books using a variety of binding techniques. In one instance she weaves thread through fractured perforations and in another she uses perforated tabs as connective tissue between pages. The fragility of the books highlights the vulnerability that lingers after restoration, while their contents memorialize the history of the project that would otherwise be lost in the final product. 
Heather Simon is a California native with an MFA in creative writing and literary translation from Queens College. Her writing and visual art often converge; and her work has been published in Newtown Literary, The Rumpus, Nomadic Journal, Ink Brick, Blunderbuss Magazine, and others. She's participated in group shows at Plaxall Gallery, DeFord Gallery, Local Project, and Shoestring Press. She teaches writing and literature at Queens College and Queensborough Community College. www.inkmonstersink.com
RISE: Rockaway Institute for Sustainable Environment was established by the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance after their renovation of the former FDNY Company 265 Firehouse. To foster Rockaway’s growing arts scene, the main floor of the firehouse has been converted into the “Great Hall” gallery to exhibit various forms of art, film, and live performances. Their mission: to make the Rockaway Peninsula a more vibrant and resilient community through community planning, environmental stewardship, arts and cultural programs. 
Hours: 10 AM - 6 PM on Tuesday through Thursday with select Saturdays

Directions and venue information can be found at: https://www.rwalliance.org/rwa/get_involved/contact_us/

For questions about the event or art, please contact Heather Simon at inkmonstersink[at]gmail.com
This project was made possible by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

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