Portfolio > First We Take Manhattan

gnisir tnemenet, tracey snelling, sculpture, mixed media, video art, city
Tenement Rising
mixed media installation with video
325 x 240 x 135 cm
2016

Everyday, huge apartment buildings grow seemingly overnight in cities that appear to be outgrowing themselves. In Beijing, as blocks of hutangs are torn down to make way for new skyscrapers, massive apartment complexes further out from the city are built to house the
workers that are misplaced. These apartments become run down due to shoddy material and building practices, are sometimes dangerous places to reside, and are often packed to the brim with more people than is appropriate.

This work is a 3.5 meter tall, 3 meter wide wall of small ­scale apartment buildings, butted up against one another to form a colossal shape of an over sized building. The buildings are attached together and appear as an overwhelming wall of concrete, plaster, windows, and dirty yet vibrant facades. Small lights, images, and video show through the dingy, curtained windows.The massive number of buildings alludes to the issues of overpopulation, crowding, and poverty in large cities across the world.