The Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist, Derrick Adams held his first exhibition “Sanctuary” at the Museum of Art and Design in New York City. As the United States is a hybrid country with various kinds of races, immigrating and traveling has always been a pop topic in the society. However, traveling has not always been equally accessible for all Americans in the 20th century. The Green Book is a famous travel guide which identifies the specific locations of gas stations, restaurants, motels, clubs all of the country that were willing to serve African Americans in the mid-20th century. I am surprised that originally the topic of travel and segregation are hardly having connection with art, but Unpacking the Green Book used different materials and techniques to combine the idea of art and travel together. Differently from other artists, Derrick Adams got his inspiration from his research on the “Green Book” to create his installation.
Adams used several mixed medias in his artworks so that there are multiple elements for the viewer to explore. Initially, there are fences and boundaries in the exhibition because this represents the difficulty of traveling for African Americans. Then, he used wood to make the panels on the walls in order to show the texture of The Green Book. By using fabric, Adams wants to represent the brick façades of buildings and the old fashion. Each separate material seems having no big connections with each other, but they ended up creating a scene for the viewer to experience the situation in the age of segregation.
I got some inspiration from this special installation. Mainly I learnt how to use mix medias in one artwork. As I want to make a 3D children book for my final project, I want to paste patches of different kinds green materials and let the reader to experience the texture of various materials. This will not only make my project more interesting, but also let the reader to experience more.
