Regular shoppers at Northpark Center in north Dallas already know that the mall has museum quality works of public art on display throughout the shopping center.
And beginning May 21, 2014, Northpark Center will host a FREE public art exhibition of Brooklyn-based Chilean artist Iván Navarro’s work, “This Land Is Your Land.”
The installation, which was recently on view at Madison Square Park in New York City, features three elevated wooden water towers serving as metaphors for the experience of immigration.
The works will be on view for one year at NorthPark Center on Level One between Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom near Gucci, Todd’s, Salvatore Ferragamo and Versace.
Navarro’s work features three water tower structures that, upon first glance, may appear as traditional architectural objects. Upon closer encounter, visitors discover that each vessel contains a different neon word or image.
Glowing from within, the words “ME/WE” and “BED,” along with an image of a ladder, are reflected endlessly inside, serving as a statement on the political and personal experience of immigration. The towers are elevated so visitors can walk underneath, and for the first time, can also be seen from above from Level Two of the shopping center giving visitors a different perspective of the work.
The artist takes the exhibition’s title from the beloved 1940 Woody Guthrie folk song, This Land Is Your Land, which is both an American anthem and a vocal pull to the freedoms offered in this country for an immigrant population.
For Navarro, it represents the vast expanse of the American landscape and a democratic society pursued by millions of people.
Photography by Elisabeth Bernstein. Image courtesy of the artist and Paul Kasmin Gallery.
Photography by James Ewing. Image courtesy of the artist and Paul Kasmin Gallery
