Artist Kathryn Cameron Brings Honor to Big Apple at Tribeca’s Paisley
New York City is a fighter. She will not give up. The great citizens of this town are still dealing with the pandemic as is the rest of the world. From members of shuttered Broadway theaters to schools working hard to keep students safe, we are all in this together.
Artists of the Big Apple are using the moment to reflect on this unforgettable time in history. Kathryn Cameron is doing just that. Her inspirational work dedicated to the workers of Tribeca is now being featured at the incredible Paisley in lower Manhattan.
“Together We Rise” is a tableau created in honor of Paisley Restaurant’s collaboration with the Taste of Tribeca during the first months of the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic. The Taste of Tribeca supported healthcare workers with nourishing meals and community outreach, helping local restaurants stay in business. The concept of the tableau, conceived by Paisley’s owner, Juthika Bedi, was carried out by the artist, Kathryn Cameron.
The work is primarily composed of photographs that record moments of this humanitarian effort. They show deliveries made to hospitals, fire stations, and the Department of Sanitation in Manhattan and the Bronx. Other images include the food preparation in Paisley’s kitchen, restaurant owner, Bedi, Executive Chef Peter Beck, and other members of the staff that spent endless hours preparing and delivering meals for groups of 20 to 200 workers fighting the pandemic.
The images, photographed by Jose Solis and by the owner herself, were printed by Cameron on onion skin paper in a cyanotype palette that unifies the photographs both conceptually and visually. The images, which are fragmented, are mounted on brass plates and recall the cobblestone streets of Tribeca. The brass refers to the “golden kiss” of the setting sun on the corner of Greenwich and Laight Streets each afternoon, a special corner in Tribeca that Paisley has rejuvenated with its warm and amiable presence.
The artwork is mounted on stainless steel plates to honor the industrial aesthetic of the restaurant. Delivery sites are marked on a rusted steel map of Manhattan. It is illuminated with a subtle aura of light to symbolize the city’s energy that continues to surge despite the challenging times.
The work also includes metal kitchen utensils, such as a spatula, which Cameron constructed from found materials along downtown sidewalks. They traverse the work as symbols of good health and family strength and bring in souls from times past. The oversized scale enhances and emphasizes this strength. Napkins, which the artist dyed with Indigo Ink, by no coincidence a dye used widely in India, hang from a brass rod. Printed on the antique napkins, which are mounted on canvas, are a special dedication paragraph to the Taste of Tribeca and the names of organizations that received the meals.
A small monochromatic painting made by the artist uses a handmade pigment that is typical of her personal work. The materials in the piece and in her work, metal in combination with paper, are incorporated to represent both strength and fragility, characteristics especially important during this historical moment and both of which are at the essence of being human.
