Nowhere In Manhattan

C-Prints, 22’’ x 17’’ each

Nowhere In Manhattan is a series of over 200 images that documents the few places left on the island of Manhattan where the city disappears. The images are intentionally simple; some are straightforward landscapes, while others reveal a more mysterious side of the city. The work is intended to explore how knowledge of location can change our perception of an image. A simple, beautiful landscape is somehow more impossible because it exists in Manhattan. A freestanding ramshackle boathouse becomes an architectural treasure because it is the last of its kind in the entire borough. The series is also a catalog of places that will inevitably be cleaned up, built over, razed or landscaped in the coming years as we push every last bit of “nowhere” off the island. Eventually images from the series were made available for use on scaffolding and construction walls throughout Manhattan.

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abandoned

Posted on October 18, 2013 by mattjensen12345

Abandoned Structure

60 C-prints installed in a grid, 14’’ x 10’’ each

Abandoned Structure is a series of 60 photographs taken from the same vantage point in 60 different units within “Brick Village” on the south end of Governors Island. The officers housing has been abandoned for over 15 years and is slated for demolition as the island redevelops. Each image depicts the same point in each house where the living room meets the dining room. The final collection highlights the subtle alterations made to each space and the often dramatic differences created by the forces of nature.

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Signs of life

Posted on October 18, 2013 by mattjensen12345

Signs of Life, Inwood Park Walk

The intent of these walks was to bring the landscape’s obscured layers of history to the surface. Combining my personal experiences in the park with historical research I helped walkers search for visible clues of the park’s past and present human inhabitants. Together we examined signs of the landscape’s earliest use as a Native American village, its later existence as a conglomeration of Victorian age estates, and its eventual transformation into a public park. Today Inwood Hill Park has no official residents but it does serves as a sanctuary for homeless and individuals seeking isolation. A “guide book” was created for participating walkers and the featured objects were all found in plain sight during the walks.

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He’s walking towards…

Posted on October 18, 2013 by mattjensen12345

He’s walking towards the Staten Island Ferry

Video, 7 minutes, played in a loop with audio

In the middle of the winter a deer swam from New Jersey to Governors Island where it became trapped between the Hudson Bay and the seawall. Five hundred years ago the animal would have found easy grazing and perhaps a mate. Today it was cause for police boats, helicopters and patrol vehicles. The visual was one of my first experiences with the Island and became an important part of my exhibition, Searching for Something Previously Forgotten or Unknown on Governors Island.

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Cleaning a glacial pothole

Posted on October 18, 2013 by mattjensen12345

Cleaning a Glacial Pothole

21-minute video projected with surround sound

The short film, made in collaboration with artist Brandon Neubauer, is a document of an action and a portrait of a place. The piece captures the process of cleaning of a remarkable glacial pothole carved into an outcropping of Manhattan schist during the last ice age. The pothole serves as a year-round watering hole for birds in Inwood Park and it is one of the most magical spots I have ever encountered. The video and rich soundscape create a captivating atmosphere as a series of gestures leads to a marvelous discovery. Access to full length video is available upon request.

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Sunrise Sunset Garbage

Posted on October 18, 2013 by mattjensen12345

Sunrise, sunset and all the garbage collected in between

3 C-Prints, 40’’ x 27’’ installed

These photographs were taken on the western shore of the Bronx on a tiny outcropping of land in the Hudson River. The first image was taken at sunrise around 5:23am and if you look closely you can see the shadow of Riverdale being cast on the vertical cliffs of the Palisades. After sunrise I spent much of the day cleaning this small, nameless parcel of land from which the photograph was taken. The overgrown landscape is unmarked but easily accessible and because it is out of public view it has acquired years of flotsam mixed with garbage left by negligent fishermen. At the end of the day I piled the bags of garbage and recyclables up for easy removal and then photographed the same northern view at sunset.

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Every Tree

Posted on October 18, 2013 by mattjensen12345

Every Tree in Town

I walked every street in the town of Willimantic, Connecticut, and made 1,017 photographs of 3,128 spruce trees. Blue and Norway spruce trees are not native to the region; however, they are a living link to the city’s once booming industrial past. Willimantic once boasted some of the largest textile mills in the world and many of the thousands of workers came from countries in Northern Europe where spruce trees grow wild. The mills are closed, most of them razed, the population has dwindled, the demographics shifted, yet the trees have continued to be an important icon in the landscape.

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Hometown Stones

Posted on October 18, 2013 by mattjensen12345

Hometown Stones

254 C-Prints, 10’’ x 6.5’’ each

I walked every street in each of the old mill towns that make up my hometown of Killingly, Connecticut. While walking the town I documented every large stone I encountered whether placed by a glacier, by a horse, by a tractor, by a backhoe, even plastic stones purchased at Home Depot. Stone worship with an American twist.

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