Echoes and Shadows was created for the inaugural exhibition at The Parlour Gallery at Camp Street Studios, a 170 year old historic Henry Howard building in the heart of the New Orleans Arts District. Over time the building has had many identities; it was originally built as a residence for the maritime trading Converse family, evolved as a commercial space, then home to offices and workspaces. It is compelling to consider the narratives the building has witnessed and how each era served as a snapshot of our humanity, or arguably, inhumanity. There are the echoes of past lives stained in the floorboards and felt in the shadows. These walls have been privy to interpersonal dynamics between families, servants, enslaved people, coworkers and now creative colleagues whose lives have been shaped by the space. Echoes and Shadows considers the building’s known and unknown histories, including the memory and energy of its previous inhabitants, its architectural significance to the City of New Orleans, and a critical perspective on the building’s legacy.

The video is a collaboration between artist Cristina Molina, dancer Becky Allen, and myself. It is a meditation on the body interacting with the space it’s in and an exploration of the architecture of this historic building. As an extension of the video, Becky did a performance with my installation, Hall of Impressions, during the opening of the exhibition.