laura zelda smith

With Missing the Signs, I wrapped white string around an ice "S", "T", "O", and "P", and nested these letters amidst red yarn frozen into the hexagonal shape of a stop sign. Orange felt was frozen into the forms of traffic cones. These cones were placed in three parallel lines next to each sign. The signs were installed at different times throughout the day so that the viewer would see the various stages of melting at one time. Missing the Signs can be appreciated for its irony; a stop that moves, distorts, and comes undone. It can also represent the utter futility one feels when confronting entropy and momentum. From addiction to environmentalism to the MeToo movement, one observes the difference between saying stop and the practical impossibility of actually arresting forces, preexisting systems, and social structures that are already in motion. This installation presents the viewer with several cautionary tiers of lines not to be crossed. However, over the course of this exhibition, each of these lines is overwhelmed and broken down.