Artist Naomi Andree Campbell was born in Montreal, but works in Brooklyn. In April at the Brooklyn Navy Yard she had a show in their Wasteland of the Future series. Wasteland of the Future is part of a three part exhibition project that will conclude at Shanghai's Himalaya Museum this summer. Campbell’s part of the exhibition took place at The Navy Yard. “ The project discusses the effects of anxiety related to the Anthropocene and to technology. I use the immersive effects of technology to reversely reflect the natural world in the most common item/debris, a cardboard box as an extension of our world of waste,” she wrote in an email. “Ironically cardboard is produced from trees, fundamental to the Earth and our existence. The images in the video insinuate tree-like forms vacillating between its watery components in nature. “
First, who is the curator of this project?
Naomi Andree Campbell: “Chiarina Chen. It is her idea to create this vast project that spans across the oceans and the Himalayas Museum.”
Your work has been described as healing. How healing?
Naomi Andree Campbell: “I am amazed to hear the healing comment often used in describing my work. I had the same response with my public art piece for the Maimonides Hospital. It felt very special to have the 15 foot piece for the waiting room of the cancer treatment center. They wanted it specifically for the same reasons.”
You used cardboard to get an immersive experience. Could you explain that?
Naomi Andree Campbell: “I somehow managed to create an immersive environment out of a cardboard box this time. It was exciting to see the response. I loved the building so I made the piece to honor the building. I also just had a friend of mine who works building boxes for shipping photography for a renowned company who is now in hospital after being run over by a train. This piece embodies all my present experiences. I really hope my friend will make it.”
And what about the 3D video element of it?
Naomi Andree Campbell: “Inside the piece are corn roots - somewhat sticking out (they remind me of home). The video is mostly green and blue with shiny watery like reflection and refraction of light in the interior. It hangs at a rakish angle from cables in the ceiling as a coiled cord spirals down to the headphones below.”