LEVEE
Jean Shin
When Hurricane Sandy hit New York City in Oct 29, 2012, the water came up to 51 inches to my ground floor studio space on Conover Street in Red Hook. Following the storm, the interior required a total gut renovation. Today my studio (like much of Red Hook) is now back in order, yet the residue of salt water still seeps out of the mortar on my brick wall, forever marking the height of the storm surge.
My public art proposal comes out of my first-hand experience dealing with the impact of Hurricane Sandy in Red Hook. Incorporating my research into emergency readiness, I propose to build with the community a large-scale sculpture at the Louis Valentino Park that acts as a temporary flood wall made out of sandbags. Unlike traditional sandbags made from woven polypropylene, in my project the bags will be made out of repurposed old blue jeans collected from the residents of Red Hook. Denim — faded, torn, paint splattered — represents the body in many diverse forms. The denim sandbags offer a more human scaled container that can be mobilized quickly. When stacked together, the sand filled bags of denim are symbolic of the resilient community in Red Hook that may become fortified against the damaging effects of climate change. This massive levee of denim, marking the storm surge line (like the salt stain on my studio wall), will invite residents and visitors to the waterfront to consider the pressing challenges that we face in the era of climate change especially in extremely vulnerable flood zones like Red Hook. As we consider the daunting predictions of sea rise levels from 11 to 21 inches by 2050s, 18–39 inches by 2080, and 6 feet by 2100 — the community considers how high a flood wall would be needed against the threats of the next superstorm.
In partnership with Pioneer Work, my project will work with the Red Hook youth community in the various creative processes and production of the art that engages in dialogue about flood prevention and preparedness. In the first part of the project entitled ‘Watermarks’, youth teams will collaborate to survey the height of the water that reached the neighborhood buildings in the last superstorm. Leaving blue markers as evidence of the high watermark on street signs and light poles, the teams will create paths that connect to Valentino Park where the art project will be located. Through these land surveying workshops, youth groups will learn the importance of understanding their neighborhood’s topography street by street in relationship to sea level and what the impact of the projected rising sea levels will have on the places they live. In the meantime, the second part of the project will initiate a massive call to donate old jeans from the community with convenient drop off locations and partnerships throughout the city. The used denim pants will then be cut into two halves and each stitched on one side to create two open bags. With sewing workshops in the community, we will produce thousands of denim sandbags for the project. These sandbags will then be filled and stacked in a community event in Valentino Park, forming a temporary wall reaching the height of the storm surge.
The artwork produced, a massive levee of blue denim becomes a landscape in itself while referencing the past and future presence of flood water on the site. The shear physical presence of this embankment will be a call to action. While the art installation is temporary, it activates critical questions seeking long-term solutions: How have we shaped our environment to prevent flooding? What kind of permanent infrastructure is needed to address increasing threats from climate change? Are we prepared as we should be? Or are we still vulnerable to the next flood? Can we mobilize our forces quickly in an emergency to combat the next superstorm short and long-term? In my public art project, each denim sandbag directly refers to the person who wore the garment, who worked to alter it, filled it, stacked it. The art work promises that when we come together, we fortify each other and become a major force of resistance.
