Print/Projection Installation

Joys, Sorrows, & Concerns, an installation at the Cantor Gallery of polymer plate prints with projected drawings, is Susan Schmidt’s most current work and inspiration for the exhibition's title. Over a year in development, it relies on drawing and observation of images from the news media. Here, photographs of immigrants from border detention camps are isolated into essential, almost symbolic, human interactions, which repeat throughout the work.

Schmidt writes: “I am interested in the ways that drawing allows us to consider current social issues differently than the way we see them on screens. A slower, more imaginative response to crisis. In this installation piece, I was thinking about problems for people seeking asylum in the U.S. and my prints portray human beings within that system, suspended and uncertain.”

Schmidt references artist William Kentridge in relation to creating Joys, Sorrows, Concerns, who raised the question of using the suffering of individuals in the creation of work. Kentridge, who was born and lives in South Africa, has examined apartheid and its impact using drawing, performance, and film making. His conclusion is that the artist, through deliberate and sustained attention, is committing an act of compassion rather than exploitation.

Special thanks to John Carney, manager of the Millard Studios, for his technical assistance and other support for this work.

Joys, Sorrows, & Concerns

Polymer plate prints, with projected drawings

2020