< Installations

Harlem Damask

Harlem Damask, variation I, is an artwork commissioned by L+M Development Partners for the lobby of PS90 Condominiums in Harlem. I also designed the interiors of the project. I developed the painting from a segment of an eighteenth century topographical map of Manhattan that was labeled "New Haarlem" (roughly comprising the northern Manhattan communities of Harlem and Washington Heights). The repeated mirroring of this segment causes "New Haarlem" to literally face itself, even while backwards and upside down. The resulting gilded, damask-like pattern can be interpreted as a commentary on, or perhaps even critique of, Harlem’s gentrification. The work potentially prompts questions about what and who might shape the narrative of a "new" Harlem.