In Salem: Installation of enigmatic books, alchemical organic material & esoteric ephemera related to the Salem Witch Trials, on view during screenings of short films related to All Hallows’ Eve.
Thursday, October 31st
Synesthesia Gallery, Bushwick, Brooklyn
In Salem Library will be an eerie installation of mysterious books in the form of a sphinxlike small library at Synesthesia Gallery, in situ for the duration of the screenings.
Background: In Salem, a collection of collage poems and original photographs by Catherine Corman inspired by the Salem Witch Trials, is being published by Ugly Duckling Presse. It is designed by Naomi Yang of Exact Change and Galaxie 500.
In this project, Catherine Corman has assembled fragments of text from the trial testimony of accused witches to form haunting, desperate pleas of innocence; fantastical, urgent, false confessions; and blunt laments of resignation from blameless women condemned to death.
Accompanying the text are 21 photographs retracing their steps, across the farms, homes, ponds and cemeteries where they endured their ill-fated lives, pastoral and commonplace until overtaken by hysteria. The Synesthesia installation will commemorate this tragedy.
