Songs of Enclosure and Exclosure
SONGS OF ENCLOSURE AND EXCLOSURE (2025- present) takes the shape of six free risograph broadsides placed throughout the Glen Foerd manor, along with a large scale cut-paper installation mounted in the former print gallery of this historic estate. This work constellates aspects and instances of the enactment of Enclosure -defined broadly -alongside its shadow twin Exclosure, the exclusion and displacement of those on the other side of the lines it draws. It also celebrates struggles to subvert, evade and overturn Enclosure and Exclosure.
From these global processes, we are connected to the hyper-local. When I first entered the ornate gates of this estate and learned of the history of its founder, Charles Macalester (b. 1798, d. 1873), I was struck by his participation in so many aspects of enclosure- acting as a banker, running an insurance company, profiting off massive real estate holdings, as well as selling utilities to his Torresdale neighbors. At the same time, I was enthused to learn that Glen Foerd once housed a large collection of the work of printer-poet William Blake. My own work indeed likely spills across the shadows that remain from where some of Blake’s work once hung. The title of this piece is a tribute to his illuminated book of poetry, “Songs of Innocence and Experience.”
The broadsides pair installation imagery with (largely) primary source documents: petitions, manifestos, poems, testimonials and academic papers- ranging from contemporary Philadelphia to Apartheid-era South Africa to 17th century England and back again. My hope is that you will wander the mansion to collect each broadside and then enter the print gallery to see how they all connect into a larger trans-national, trans-temporal landscape of enclosure, forming what Aimé Césaire called “a universal rich with all that is particular.”
In the gallery is also displayed a hand-cut rendition of Takaaki Yoshimoto’s 1951 poem “The Earth is Being Divided” (translated and provided by Manuel Yang), acting as a sort of thesis statement for the exhibition while delving deeper into the psychic and reproductive dimensions of Enclosure. Beneath the glass of a nearby desk is found a selection of the primary source documents that I drew upon in my research. I hope you’ll spend some time perusing and pondering this archive.
I’d like to thank Peter Linebaugh, Gianna Barone of the Delaware Tribe, Talia Greene, Emily Abendroth, Prudence Katze, Christeen Francis, Federico Suari and the staff at Glen Foerd (especially Isabel Brown and Charlie Labb) for their invaluable advice and assistance on this project at various stages of its development.
A large portion of this work was created during residencies at Monson Arts (Monson, ME) and Studio Two Three (Richmond, VA).