“A moment of not-yet-there”
Giovanni di Mola & Cheryl Brown
81 Leonard Gallery windows,
Beginning in April 2021
81 Leonard Gallery is pleased to inaugurate PAUSE, an initiative to exhibit work in our gallery windows for covid-safe public viewing, with “PAUSE: a moment of not-yet-there,” on view from April 6th to May 4th, 2021. Amidst a global pandemic that shut many of us in our homes and inhibited our ability to make stable plans for the future, it feels as if the world has come to a stand-still, and we are forced to dwell in and on the present moment. The tension between the desire to look forward and the heightened consciousness that life is fleeting makes the present moment precious and precarious. Along with the sensation of warped time, the term ‘pause’ refers to action, invoking the question of who is holding the controller. Who is pausing by choice, and who by necessity? Who gets the privilege to pause, and who keeps working despite the risks?
“PAUSE: a moment of not-yet-there” brings together photographic work by artist Giovanni di Mola and a poem by Cheryl Brown, both of which embrace the unpredictability of life with open arms, welcoming the discomfort associated with change. Brown’s poem “My Broken Dreams” opens with the sentiment that the poet’s dreams are going up in smoke, blowing away along with her fear of failure and all the negative emotions that do not serve her.
Realizing one’s life has not gone as planned may invoke disappointment; however, this feeling is ephemeral— like the epic dreams traversed in sleep but forgotten in the morning. Just as physical inability prevents the recollection of events once felt so real, logic must prevent one from mourning the version of oneself that only ever breathed in dreams. After all, life is made whole by laughs shared at the dinner table and intimate phone calls that make distance an abstract concept. Without undermining the importance of having goals, Brown recognizes that accomplishments and accolades do not solely define one’s life.
Submitting to the goodwill of chance and coincidence, Brown allows the course of her life to be shaped by unanticipated relationships and impromptu encounters. Her open-mindedness and adaptability equipped her to pursue a new dream and find her purpose, working to help formerly incarcerated people find meaningful paths. Brown’s unexpected acquaintance with poet Dave Johnson, who runs a writing workshop at the probation office where Brown’s son was attending weekly meetings, introduced her to poetry and implanted a new aspiration within her. Brown’s success and demonstrated leadership landed her the first “Lead Apprentice” position for the Free Verse writing program, which led to her invitation by the probation office to work full-time and allowed her to empower her clients with poetry.
Di Mola, who embarked on a new journey in the town of Hudson, NY, after years of Manhattan-living, portrays his subjects in a state of metamorphosis- what he calls “a moment of not-yet-there.” Like the “birds flying south” in “My Broken Dreams,” di Mola’s subjects are looking to evade inclement weather- moving, changing, and finding their place. “Rebecca Wagner (HOPE!)” portrays a woman standing before a window, drawing the curtains, and illuminating the pink walls sheltering her. Light, a timeless symbol for hope, floods the home as if connecting the subject to something greater than herself. A site for introspection and private contemplation, the home also becomes the origin point from which one orients themselves in the world. Here, inside the homes we have all become too familiar with over the past year, we are obliged to contemplate the value of working on oneself versus working on something. “Rebecca Wagner (HOPE!)” illustrates the moment of comfort found in “My Broken Dreams,” one grounded in the present yet imbued with optimism about the future.
Free Verse is a publishing house, working artists’ program, writing workshop, and magazine of poetry, prose, art, and song that promotes turning waiting time into creative time. Headquartered in the heart of the waiting room of the South Bronx Department of Probation – where probation clients check-in with their probation officers – Free Verse solicits new writing created while people wait. The editorial staff is a mix of probation clients, community members, college students, and professional poets, employed to serve as paid writing apprentices – right in the waiting room. Free Verse hosts weekly open mics and workshops and numerous public events that invite court-involved clients, probation officers, staff, police officers, judges, professional writers, and the community to share their work together. During the last three years over twenty probation departments from around the United States, Italy, and Australia have visited the South Bronx to experience Free Verse. We are now launching a replicable model to implement in further jurisdictions. Join us: freeversepoems@gmail.com & @FreeVerseMag. We welcome your financial support.
Giovanni di Mola is a photographer and DJ based in Hudson NY and New York City. His work has been exhibited in Berlin, Hamburg, New York City, and the Hudson Valley. His photographs have been featured in VICE Magazine, Italian Vogue, and Time Out New York, as well as campaigns and catalogues for American Express, Pottery Barn, Crabtree & Evelyn, and Bliss.
Cheryl Brown is a poet native to the Bronx. She started writing poetry in 2011, with the Free Verse program, and has since had her work published in multiple editions of Free Verse zines and showcased at the Queens Museum in the community partnership exhibition “My Word(s) – these are the tools I trust.”
Prints of “My Broken Dreams,” “Rebecca Wagner (HOPE!),” and other work by Giovanni di Mola are available for purchase through Artsy. READ MORE
Read more from Free Verse
Please wait while flipbook is loading. For more related info, FAQs and issues please refer to DearFlip WordPress Flipbook Plugin Help documentation.