In her first ever solo show, the sculptor Elizabeth Velazquez, a founding member of the Southeast Queens Artist Alliance, is exploring her extended feelings about mugwort, a common invasive plant
Now on display at the York College Arts Gallery, Velazquez is fashioning her gallery debut into a return to literal roots: “Returning to a Womb: Ecological Becoming.”
The show is centered on what she calls “Ancestral Wombs,” which are described as “life-size vessel-like forms,” and made of mugwort mulch and hypertufa, among other materials.
“Over the years I have grown to consider mugwort as my teacher,” Velazquez said in a statement announcing the show.
Along the walls of the gallery, Velazquez has lined up bottles of “agua florida,” a kind of botanical she has custom brewed for this, employing mugwort among its ingredients. In a related gesture, Velazquez will also be operating a workshop session on Nov. 2 called “Flourishing with Agua Florida,” aimed at both members of the public and students in a Caribbean art history course at York College.
Velazquez also will use the show to deliver a workshop called “Meditations on the Womb,” tentatively scheduled for next month and described as “an intergenerational space for conversations about womb care, health, and ancestral knowledge.
Catch “Returning to a Womb” at York College Arts Gallery until Nov. 12.