Site-Specific Art Installation “Solitude: In a Landscape” comes to the Naval Cemetery Landscape on August 26th

Film Screening and Live Music to Open the Week-Long Run of Images and Sound in the Urban Meadow Landscape

Brooklyn Greenway Initiative (BGI) is excited to announce the upcoming art installation and exhibition, “Solitude: In A Landscape” by Najee Wilson (b.1987 Charleston, SC) to be shown in the Naval Cemetery Landscape (NCL). The opening event for the installation will take place on Thursday, August 26th from 6:00 – 7:30pm and will feature a screening of the film “Solitude: In A Landscape” to celebrate exactly one year since it was shot in the NCL. The film will be projected onto the boardwalk and scored live by musician Ben Brown of Hand and Temple.

The video piece, “Solitude: In A Landscape” (54m) by Najee Wilson is a celebration of bucolic beauty within an urban oasis, yearning for comfort and the nostalgic pleasures of enjoying nature, made in reaction to the chaos of 2020.

During the screening, visitors are encouraged to walk around the elevated meandering boardwalk and view the installation. Stills from the film have been printed on silk and ripstop nylon and displayed on shepherd’s hooks to catch the breeze, appearing to float over the meadow. Wind chimes will provide an additional chorus of sound coming from the outer edges of the landscape.

As a multidisciplinary artist working with expressions of movement and representation, Najee Wilson has interpreted the Naval Cemetery Landscape in unique and exciting ways. In “Solitude: In a Landscape” the viewer will see both the artist inhabiting and exploring the space, and also reframing it both in terms of personal point of view and also the passage of time, both unique factors of the space that are not obvious to visitors on their initial visits.

“During the uproar of last year, as we safeguarded ourselves from so much, our bodies yearned for places that allowed us to feel safe,  while fostering a deeper connection to nature,” the Artist, Najee Wilson, said on the installation. “This piece is about nostalgia and feelings of being home, about how to connect with our personal history, but in a new, ever changing world. The NCL was a refuge for me in 2020 and now I want to share that experience with others.”

Najee Wilson is one of 500 New York City-based artists to receive $5,000 through the City Artist Corps Grants program, presented by The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs  (DCLA), with support from  The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment  (MOME) as well as Queens Theatre. Additional support was provided by Brooklyn Greenway Initiative. 

The Naval Cemetery Landscape, developed by BGI and opened to the public in 2016, is an award-winning 1.7-acre contemplative memorial landscape and pollinator habitat. The NCL was designed to provide local residents and other visitors with a respite from the stresses of urban life while adding vital open space and native plant habitat to a park-starved area of Brooklyn.

About the Artist:

Najee Wilson, is an Interdisciplinary Artist based in Brooklyn, New York whose work is interwoven with Intuitive Movement, Film, Photography, Textile and the ready made as medium. Wilsons current work explores ephemerality and gaze as a means of self discovery.

About Brooklyn Greenway Initiative:

Brooklyn Greenway Initiative (BGI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to the development, establishment and long-term stewardship of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway – a 26-mile protected and landscaped route for pedestrians and cyclists of all ages and abilities that, when complete, will connect Brooklyn’s storied and iconic waterfront, parks and open space, commercial and cultural corridors, and new tech and innovation hubs for 2.65 million Brooklyn residents, over 1.1 million people who work in Brooklyn, and more than 15 million annual visitors from across the City and around the world.

For more information:

Event listing

Artist website

Musician website

NCL Instagram

BGI website

Contact:

Greg Topscher – NCL Manager : gtopscher@brooklyngreenway.org

Najee Wilson – Artist : najeewilson@gmail.com

Ben Brown – Musician : ben@handandtemple.com