“Magnitude of loss” 2002 2,801 empty hangers, 2 coat racks each 60’ long
This piece made me cry repeatedly. It successfully dimensionalized the number of dead. So many empty hangers. Something about the mundane tools that would no longer be needed to hold the coats of the dead seemed both mundane and profound. Moving in an ordinary way.
The idea of this piece was that visitors to the gallery would be invited to write the name of one of the deceased on a “remembrance tag,” a claim check. They would place the large part of the tag over the hanger and take the claim tab with them as their own remembrance.
The poet T.S. Eliot said “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” and the connection between the mundane objects and the days of our lives has fascinated me ever since.
I bought the pipes and fittings at the Home Depot in Brooklyn and my local dry cleaner ordered me the hangers.
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