Hands across the seas
From “TransAtlantic,’’ a show by Jessica Straus at the Boston Sculptors Gallery, Dec. 12-Jan. 27.
The gallery explains:
“Jessica Straus's exhibition, ‘TransAtlantic,’ travels to Boston Sculptors Gallery after its 2017 premier in Athis de L'Orne, France. Originally commissioned as a site-specific installation for Le Temple Protestant, in a region of Normandy that suffered heavy bombardment during World War II, TransAtlantic commemorates the long and strong alliance between France and the United States. The installation is both political and personal. Straus's parents met as a result of her American father's participation as a soldier in the Normandy invasion and subsequent march into Paris, where he met the artist's mother, a French student.
‘‘For the installation at Boston Sculptors Gallery, the walls and floor will be clad in a room-sized World War II era map. A fleet of airplanes and an ocean liner criss-cross the Atlantic Ocean carrying correspondence between the artist's American and French families. Straus conceived of this work just as the current {Trump} administration was coming into power, reacting with alarm to the disturbing new era of xenophobia and nationalistic supremacy.
’’TransAtlantic serves as a reminder of the importance of alliances between nations and the possibilities that surface with openness to strangers.’’