Lily Massee



Unearth (to dig up out of the earth; to bring to light), November, 2021 - April, 2022 
Image transfers on gloss gel medium adhered to glass-paneled garage door 
102” x 156”

Unearth (to dig up out of the earth; to bring to light) is a mixed-media installation inspired by the story of the geothermal system in the Heimbold Visual Art Center at Sarah Lawrence College. Unearth features twenty individual image transfers, all of which showcase various facets of Heimbold’s mechanical room. The metal frame of the glass-paneled garage door gives viewers the option to examine the transfers individually or to take a step back and view them as one. This total image, one of various pipes connecting, intersecting and diverging, is labyrinthine. When seen together the pipes may also resemble entrails or a skeletal system. Some have even said that it looks like a corpse lying at the bottom of a grave. To me, Unearth is more of an exquisite corpse or a frankenstein-like creature—a body made up of different parts.

Making an image transfer is incredibly labor intensive. Each large printed image is coated with a gloss-gel medium, dried, coated again, dried again, then soaked in a tub of water, rubbed until all the paper has been removed and then dried once more. This process of submerging, scrubbing and drying likens itself to that of washing. When placed within the context of Heimbold’s enigmatic geothermal history, the washing or cleaning, of making these transfers translucent, becomes an act of revealing. Considering this, in addition to the fact these pipes were connected to a system that went 12,000 feet into the ground, creating this piece was an unearthing.

The word unearth has two definitions: “to dig up out of or as if out of the earth: exhume” and “to make known or public: bring to light.” Working in accordance with this definition, it was important to me that Unearth be installed in a light-filled and heavily trafficked area. The south-facing glass-paneled garage door in Heimbold’s atrium, which is surrounded by frequently visited tables and chairs, was the perfect spot. I wanted this piece to distort individuals’ understanding and experience of the space through its interaction with the natural light. Unearth is an ever changing piece. The fact that the installation’s visibility is dictated by light is indicative of Heimbold’s susceptibility to the natural world.