MAD Art AIR 2022
Print artist Jite Agbro reflects on our emotional connection to place through her MadArt Studio exhibition, P. L. U. A. (Proposed Land Use Action)
This site-specific work comprises architectural textiles and prints that compositionally create a fragmented rendering of the public housing complex where Agbro grew up in Seattle’s Central District. Today the building still stands and remains home to its current residents; however, there are plans to demolish the existing structure to make way for a new mixed-use retail space and low-income housing. Though Agbro herself has not lived there since she was a teenager, news of the building’s impending demolition paired with her complex process of internally negotiating this loss became the driving impetus for this exhibition.
P.L.U.A envelops viewers in large, semi-transparent, graphic panels that utilize the studio’s steel supports to span both vertically and horizontally in succession across the space. While much of Agbro's work incorporates the human form to comment on cultural inheritance passed down through history and familial understanding, this exhibition is decidedly less figurative. She expands this inquiry to consider the structural influences—institutional, ideological, architectural—that inform an individual's lineal circumstance. Much like traversing through an urban landscape, the installation presents viewers with several perspectives, a visual and hopeful metaphor that suggests our life position is shaped, but not necessarily controlled, by external conditions. Further, P. L. U. A. provides a reflection of emotional connection to place, observing how nuanced and fluid our relationship to the built environment can be and how memory often tethers itself to the physical world.
ABOUT MADART
MadArt is a contemporary arts organization located in Seattle, WA. We serve as a catalyst for making new installation-based works by supporting artists and encouraging them to experiment with materials and ideas that expand their professional practices. At MadArt Studio, we invite visitors to engage in conversation with working artists around the creative process, while remaining free and open to the public during all stages of exhibition development.
Contact: Emily Kelly | Executive Director + Curator | 504.296.1436 emily@madartseattle.com