SARAH KAVAGE
I’m a Seattle based visual artist who makes artwork about place. HOME / PROJECTS
ABOUT
PAINTING & DESIGN
CONSULTING
PORTAL
April 2021
Gateway Park, Camden / Pensauken NJ
Gateway Park, Camden / Pensauken NJ
Assistants
Adriana Amador-Chacon
Priscilla Rios
Monica Perez Reyes
Carpentry
Robert Zverina
Community Liaisons
José Ortiz Pagan
Ricky Yanas
Special thanks to
Justin Dennis, Bill Scullion, Steve Jack and all the Phrag Fest / MLK Day of Service volunteers
Photos / Video
Robert Zverina, Teresa Jaynes, Sarah Kavage, Tamara Jimenez
PORTAL is an invitation to cross a threshold to another place, and a reminder of how close and otherworldly that place can be. A high arch made out of locally-harvested Phragmites reed, built using European roof thatching techniques, connects two benches and creates a passage.
Most places you go in the greater Philadelphia area, you are surrounded by a forest of interpretive signage. No sign or statue tells the history of Gateway Park. It hides in plain sight, a strip of green beside 8 lanes of traffic and across from the discount liquor store. If you cross to the far side of the treeline, the Cooper River flows, hidden and quiet. The traffic noise drops away and you enter into a different world.
Most places you go in the greater Philadelphia area, you are surrounded by a forest of interpretive signage. No sign or statue tells the history of Gateway Park. It hides in plain sight, a strip of green beside 8 lanes of traffic and across from the discount liquor store. If you cross to the far side of the treeline, the Cooper River flows, hidden and quiet. The traffic noise drops away and you enter into a different world.
The sculpture became the site for DYNAMO, a ritual / performance created by Jose Ortiz-Pagan and Mauricio Perez in partnership with art collective La Calaca Flaca and La Pureta Abierta, an immigrant and refugee support organization. The performance used the ritual action of standing on the threshold of the Portal as a way to examine the liminal space that young undocumented people exist within. The setting created an optimistic, reflective space for them to talk about their dreams for the future.
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