This exhibition includes the film Daughterland created in collaboration with Michael Jones, which documents the enshrining of an ancient oak located on the 38th parallel in ancestral Monacan territory. Goldberg performed a thirteen hour continuous walk encircling the tree in devotion to the artist’s mother, a fractal of Mother Earth. The film is layered with vocal harmonies by Sumvivus, which loop through stanzas of Goldberg’s poetry, and with the recitation of her mother’s deathbed journal, which the artist had translated after a wait of thirty-two years. Artifacts from the ritual are displayed in an installation titled Anima Mundi, which includes a white dress inscribed with her Mother’s journal; a cord of wheat planted, harvested, braided, and used to tether to the tree; and a tassel of the artist’s hair, cut to mimic her mother’s wig as she underwent chemotherapy. 

The paintings within the exhibition are ceremonial dresses based on Obangsaek, the five elemental colors in Korean cosmology. Each painting illustrates the artist’s experience living within nature’s cycles, constellating seasonal, cultural, and historical correspondences of Korea and Turtle Island. These multidimensional costumes of the Daughterland are invitations to listen for ancestral voices, to awaken intuition of our interdependence with the living Earth, and to dream a pathway through this season of catastrophic change. 

Meesha Goldberg is an artist and farmer living in a secluded valley on ancestral Monacan territory. She uses a variety of mediums including paint, ritual performance, and poetry, to speak to humanity’s belonging and responsibility to the Earth. Her experiences journeying through monocultures, standing on frontlines, and living off the land have all served as inspiration throughout her evolving work. Goldberg has exhibited in galleries across the country with solo shows in Portland, Los Angeles, and Seattle.

This exhibition is generously sponsored by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Apex Clean Energy, Crutchfield, and an Enriching Communities Grant from the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation (CACF).

All installation photography courtesy of Derrick J. Waller

To inquire about pricing and purchasing work from the exhibition, please reach out to the gallery by email (info@secondstreetgallery.org).