"Between Heaven and Earth and Rootless Algas are based on the artist’s journeys to Iceland and Norway respectively. Between Heaven and Earth was inspired by Amorós’ explorations of the Fjörds of Central Western Norway, where she discovered the existence of remote communities of people who live high atop the mountainous peaks. Drawing parallels and illuminating contrast between their social and economic isolation and that of the inhabitants of high-rise public housing projects in New York City, Amorós’ video interweaves melancholic panoramas of glacial ponds and sweeping waterfalls with stark urban imagery of housing projects in the Bronx. Susana Baca’s accompanying soundtrack, Nacimiento de Voces (Birth of Voices), with its undulating wails and echoing cries, infuses the piece with a preternatural power.

On her visit to the remote Icelandic island of Flatey, Amorós came to see the thick, glistening masses of diverse algae that settled on rocks around the shoreline as a metaphor for her own uprooting from her Peruvian homeland. The resulting piece, Rootless Algas, eschews narrative, juxtaposing multi-hued, undulating strands of abaca, a resilient, leafy fiber, with lush, sensual nature images of the color-rich aquatic plants. Against this dream space, somber string music composed by Hilmarsson imbues the space with a sense of longing and isolation.

'By removing the plants from their original context and reinventing them in an artificial environment, the piece highlights the often fractured dynamic between humans and nature,' said Amorós."