Lauren Strohacker
Lauren Strohacker is an eco-political artist whose work emphasizes the non-human in an increasingly human-centric world. She received a grant for “Ground Work,” a free, after-dark outdoor public projection event designed for the grounds of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA), located in North Carolina. She writes:
Humans need to remember the red wolf and the Artworld needs to prioritize activism over profit. “Ground Work” is a catalyst for recall of the red wolf and exemplifies art as a conduit between human and animal community. Shifting Baseline Syndrome is the communal process of forgetting natural systems over time, normalizing the ongoing degradation of those systems. We (particularly non-indigenous Western settlers) need to collectively remember the landscapes and animals devastated by colonial capitalism and western expansion in order to properly restore pre-colonial habitats and populations.
Lauren has completed her installation “Old Red, I Know Where Thou Dwellest,” exhibited at SECCA in North Carolina from October 21, 2022 through August 27, 2023. The installation consists of three components: the multi-sensory experience “Leukos Lukos,” the outdoor installation “Ground Work,” and the projections “Such Music As I Have Never Heard.” Watch her mesmerizing and evocative visualization of the disappearance and reappearance of the red wolf.
