Tree of Life

Minnie Adkins

1988

See More of the Collection

Color screenprint on Arches paper
Untitled, Julie Plasketes, woodcut
Bottom Prime (Four Oaks, North Carolina), Jeff Whetstone, gelatin silver print
A four-sided, metal-framed architectural structure with walls of two-sheet Plexiglas. The frame is rectangular with a raised pitch; there is no roof or cover. The front wall contains an open doorway, through which visitors may enter. Rows of narrow shelves line the walls of the structure. Evenly spaced upon the shelves are small "bricks" of Lucite, within which are suspended bits and pieces of small everyday objects. The shelves are lit so as to make the individual bricks glow. Soil is mounded around the structure's outer perimeter to about a two-foot width. There are shards of crockery and other detritus in the dirt. One hears a soundtrack of recorded voices, mostly one-at-a-time.