UNESCO/UNITWIN Network Affiliate Ronni Komarow recently had her work on display in the exhibit titled There Goes the Neighborhood hosted by Galatea Fine Art. This exhibit ran from March 3rd through April 2nd. Ronni's exhibit explores the tensions between community homeowners and larger entities that seek to diminish physical spaces within neighborhood communities in favor of overbuilding and commercialization. See more here: https://www.galateafineart.com/
Photographer Eric West reflects on the opening night of the exhibition such that "[it] was a well attended opening ... Ronni’s piece elicited an abundance of 'Wows'
…and people generally responded well to the work. Over-building is something that resonates."Artist Statement from the Exhibit
For years I've been constantly getting letters from real-estate developers, offers to buy my house in Brighton, a neighborhood of Boston. Some are straight-forward business letters. Others are made to look like hand-written notes, arriving in greeting-card-style envelopes. These letters are full of promises, though I have no doubt that the beneficiary of such a deal would not be me. Many of my neighbors get these same letters, sometimes with dollar bills enclosed in the envelopes.
As an artist I knew that something creative could be done with all these letters, and I've collected them for the past several years. This installation includes roughly 250 paper houses covered with letters that I received from developers.
The installation is a statement about neighborhood preservation, and the fragility of urban communities.
Visitors are welcome to purchase a paper house for $10 with proceeds going to the Boston Preservation Alliance. See the display near the entrance to this gallery.
I wish to thank my collaborators on this project without whom this installation would not have been possible: Eric West, Isaac West, Susan Jones, and Harry Busteed.
Here's a sample of the houses in Ronni's installation:
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| Photo courtesy of Brenda Gael McSweeney |
