Imprint of Place

continued

instead suggest isolation and sterility, like knots of shriveled capillaries cut off from arteries and veins. The works dominate Gallery Project's multimedia show of works exploring the idea of place.

Accompanying Mankouche's large maps, a small ring-bound book depicts the same land area, with one small section per page. The pages show names for the culs-de-sac only, not for the main roads. The names float on the page at cockeyed angles mirroring their streets' orientations.

"It's funny — the names are so colonialist and agrarian," notes exhibit curator Gloria Pritschet, reading with me such names as Foxcroft, Kensington, Edinborough, Old Ranch, Meadow Valley, and Great Oak. Almost none identifies a true geographical feature or Michigan landmark. The artwork suggests that the street names, and by extension their residents, have broken any meaningful connection with their place.