Dove Bardin

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Cut outs of photographed legs wearing jeans and sneakers. The legs are pasted to the pavement where the building meets the sidewalk.
Hydraulic Press (2023)

ARTIST STATEMENT

Hydraulic Press considers the relationship between images of queer life in Greenwich Village and the institutions that dominate the area today. The images come from photographer Diana Davies, who documented the 1970 occupation of NYU’s Weinstein Hall, after the school canceled a scheduled queer fundraising dance. Birthed from the tensions between the queer community and institutions that now overcome the neighborhood, Dove positions the legs and represented histories as covered by the institution. This critiques the way NYU and other downtown institutions have appropriated queer imagery, displaying some of the contradictions amongst Greenwich Village’s past and present.

BIO

Dove Bardin (b. 2001) is an interdisciplinary artist born and raised in New York City. Braiding together queer and trans New York history with personal narrative, Dove’s work opens portals to our past, present, and future that have been erased, covered, or deemed impossible. These portals are contextualized by journalistic songs, paintings, performances, and photographs that archive and reflect the life and lineages of her, her friends, and the spirits of queer New York past.