Isaac Zerkle

Artist Statement

I make installations that create a multi-sensory, embodied experience for the viewer using a combination of printmaking, photography, sculpture, and lighting design. Each installation is the culmination of a process of research, recording, and collecting centered on family, material, and natural histories. My work activates existing archives and creates new ones to tell stories and emphasize connections across an expansive network of ideas. Each project exists in relationship to specific landscapes and sites of engagement with the natural world.

My recent projects are inspired by a small collection of Baltic amber passed down from my Mormor’s father, who gathered them from the coast near his home in Denmark. I am interested in exploring the material and symbolic properties of these amber objects as a way to connect with family and culture that is otherwise lost and to grapple with the complex meanings of legacy and inheritance. Amber is the fossilized resin of ancient trees; Baltic amber is estimated to be 35-55 million years old. Originally produced as a healing response to injury or disease, the resin dried, fell to the ground, and through the forces of pressure and time became amber. Amber functions as a time capsule, giving us a window into the distant past and preserving fragments of life. In January of 2022, on a trip to Denmark, I collected amber pieces of my own and met my Mormor’s extended family for the first time. This installation combines the ephemera of this trip and archival materials into a new amber time capsule in a gesture of healing and preservation.
 

Instagram: @winterbloomart
Website: isaaczerkle.com