Rites-of-Way

Unveiled last October, Rites-of-Way by Nari Ward is a visually arresting and conceptually layered sculpture that combines Twin Cities history, community stories, and the evocative environments for which the artist is known. During his Walker residency last year, Ward uncovered some intriguing pieces of local history, such as the grand ice palaces of the 1930s and 1940s designed by Twin Cities-based African-American architect Clarence Wigington; St. Paul's Rondo neighborhood, which was bisected by I-94 during the late 1950s; and the "villages" of ice-fishing houses that appear on Minnesota lakes every winter. Each references temporary architecture, dislocated dwellings, and ritualized communities.

For Rites-of-Way, Ward used the floor plan of Wigington's 1940 ice palace to create an enlivened architectural environment through which visitors can navigate. Passageways outlined by scaffolding are punctuated with beaded curtains, evoking the light and translucence of ice and water. The ice houses that crown the structure serve as dwellings for the communities' many memories, containing images of old Rondo homes and objects donated by community members.

In a career spanning over three decades, artist Nari Ward (b. 1963, St. Andrew, Jamaica; lives and works in New York, NY) has gained recognition for an interdisciplinary and multimedia practice that engages historical and contemporary discourse around race, migration, democracy, identity, and community. Ward is best known for his wall and installation-based sculptural works created primarily from materials found and collected throughout Harlem, his longtime neighborhood in New York. These objects imbue his work with a sense of intimacy, reflecting the shared experience of community. Combining materials to re-contextualize their original meanings, Ward’s assemblages probe a range of spiritual and conceptual issues through literal and metaphorical juxtaposition.

Materially specific but conceptually ambiguous, Ward’s multimedia and performance works unfold into many possible interpretations—as materials and movements accumulate, so too do signifiers. Each found object—including baseball bats, strollers, shoelaces, cash registers, bottles, and shopping carts—contains a multiplicity of meanings and histories that speak to both collective experience and individual memory. The intentional synthesis of such objects, combined with the more traditional disciplines of painting, sculpture, and performance, allows for varied interpretations, inviting viewers to project their own associations and transcend the specific context of any given work. At the same time, Ward’s art reflects on the complexities of contemporary society, transforming overlooked material through artmaking to foreground forgotten histories or marginalized communities.

About the Artist