Our seventh anniversary year begins with the opening on Friday, January 10, of an exhibition featuring the work of artists Da’Shaunae Jackson from Cleveland, and Juan-Si González, a Cuban living in exile in Dayton, Ohio. Both keen observers of the changing landscapes of America, their work explores the often unseen corners and surfaces of our country.

Juan-Si González / American Playgrounds

These images are records of places that have interrupted my gaze during my travels along the roads of the American Midwest. They make up a fragmented archive of the topographies that I should be able to recognize in order to orient myself. Later, when seen outside of their original context, after they have been reframed and edited, they turn into fictions of themselves, metaphors of this mental landscape that translate my solitude within this vast territory in which I continue to be a stranger. I’m attracted to those deserted spaces that look like built sets, where there was once someone’s presence or will be there again.

For me, the landscape is not just a contextual or aesthetic representation. It is also the space where I am able to perceive and interpret something of the social imaginary encrypted within a particular place. I visualize these landscapes as illustrations of a psychological and cultural geography, a daily exercise that works to familiarize me with contexts in which ways of thinking, being, and inhabiting a space are deposited. At the same time, I try to mine that subtle boundary between documentary and fiction to create a representation of the real that exposes itself as apparent falsehood.

Da’Shaunae Marisa Jackson / Model Homes

Since the beginning of history humans have sought to build shelter. I am fascinated by the various architectural styles created as it relates to our individuality. You can imagine the contrast in lives of occupants of a Tudor style townhouse, mobile home and a high-rise apartment. The occupied structures are decorated with treasured items to fulfill a need for comfort. The contrast and pools of light can be substituted as life almost as if it has its on lively presence.