Toisha Tucker
Toisha Tucker was born in Oklahoma. They are a conceptual artist and creative writer. Tucker’s work deals largely within epistemological and literary investigations. They are particularly interested in how we can illuminate and re-imagine our perceptions and manifestations of social constructions and their works have addressed a spectrum of themes including: time, memory, collective conscious, personal dystopia, nostalgia, feminism, identity and the search for contentment. Tucker received their BA in Philosophy and History with a concentration in English Literature from Cornell University in 2002; their Post Baccalaureate in Visual Arts with distinction from UC Berkeley Extension in 2009; they completed additional coursework at SAIC in 2010; and received their MFA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Design in 2013. Tucker has exhibited in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New York and Verona, Italy.
Website
http://www.toishatucker.comau•gust art festival project
Making use of both the forested area along the Rail trail and the open fields along Rondout Creek adjacent to the area under the Rosendale Trestle, the sky is falling and it’s fireflies, is a large-scale installation that mimics past skies and creates a futuristic space awash with glowing fireflies. Employing several strings of green and yellow solar powered fairy lights intentionally laid along the landscape, the Argo Navis constellation of ‘fallen stars’, which no longer exists in the sky, will reveal itself on terra as the sun begins to set, becoming more visible during the twilight hours leading to dusk. Along the Rail trail, a pocket of fireflies is activated by joggers, bikers and walkers moving along the trail at night.
the sky is falling and it’s fireflies serves as a rumination on future flora/fauna and reflects back how traces of celestial and natural things will exist in the future when they no longer exist except through their technological imitators.
There will be an accompanying media download of the audio of the short story Fireflies (excerpted below; listen: soundcloud audio link) to complement the installation.
Jacob was watching his brother gather fireflies.
He remembered the night he had assisted his brother – the squinting hunt with his eyes for the slow moving spots of darkness against the black of night; the soft limeish yellow light that beckoned him in. Jacob remembered the way the fireflies had fluttered in his hand, when his brother had passed them to him; the softness and warmth of its life vibrating like the endless caress of eyelashes against his skin.
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