Description: Sheets of latex are draped over a wire stretched from wall to wall along a corridor. Each sheet featurs a quote typed along its bottom edge. The quotes are taken from mostly early 20th-century sources relating to eugenics and the supposedly innate tendency of born criminals to become offenders. Attached to the window behind each latex sheet are objects, respectively referring to different incidents of recent police shootings of unarmed, innocent civilians in New York City. These objects are coated in layers of white gesso and dangle in front of the windows attached by fishing line.
The piece deals with the idea of crime prevention. The objects are associated with different unarmed and innocent victims of police shootings in New York, resulting from the police’s efforts to prevent a crime. The eleven items derive from news reports that referred to the respective objects, which in some way or other became detrimental for the victims—they somehow led to the victims getting shot. The texts on the latex sheets—culled from sources discussing eugenics—relate to the desire to identify and deal with criminals before they commit a crime.
