The Scab Nation Project & Faces of Hope Update

Hampden Gallery | Incubator Project Space | University of Massachusetts Amherst

October 15 to November 12, 2009

www.umass.edu/fac/hampden
www.lisaludwig.com
www.retreatfromharm.org

The Scab Nation Project is an art installation about our Nation healing. It is constructed of four main parts. Scab Painting, Limb Orchard, Reflecting Pool, and Reflection Dioramas. Each piece is an mini project of its own.

The Reflection Pool is an interactive sculpture that houses water inside, so you can rest and reflect into the water. You can sit or lay on it like a large rock at the beach. When you look into the water, you see a reflection of an overhead ceiling painting. It is titled the Faces of Hope. It is inspired from healing pools of long ago. When sick, one would lay by the pool hoping to be healed by an angel in their sleep. The ceiling painting is merged images of women named Hope, that allowed me to use their face image. Here I am creating a ghostly, spiritual image of an angel. She is reminding us that Hope is not only a name but is something within all of us. While reflecting on this image you can see your own reflection, connecting every one of us. When this happens the piece is completed.

Thanks to the involvement of these beautiful women, I am allowed to see my creative vision through. I “hope” in the future more Hopes will be involved so the painting can grow and evolve.

I want this art sculpture to lead us in conversation of how we can make our world a better place, in Hope of our Nation Healing.

Thank you,
Lisa Ludwig