SUNSET PARK, Brooklyn (WABC) — A year after a devastating five-alarm fire destroyed a longtime artist warehouse on the Red Hook waterfront, members of the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition gathered in Sunset Park for an exhibition examining loss, memory and recovery.
The exhibition, organized by the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, features interactive works by artists affected by the fire. One piece by artist LadyK invites viewers to breathe on its surface, triggering changes that reflect themes of memory and identity.
“When you breathe on this piece, it stirs up this memory; you know our breath sustains us. Our memories sustain us. Our identities sustain us. But then over time what happens is our algorithm actually breaks them down. It rearranges them; it blacks them out,” LadyK said.
The artist said the work was inspired by her own struggles with memories following the loss of her belongings in the fire.
“I have this thing where it’s like, ‘oh is this here or is this at home, is this, oh wait… that was in the studio. I lost it in the fire.’ So, it’s this crazy thing with my memory,” she said.
The fire burned for more than a day and destroyed a warehouse that housed multiple artist studios. The space had been home to hundreds of artists for 35 years and provided them with a place to work at little cost.
For members of the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, the loss extended beyond a physical building.
“The thing is BWAC is not a place. It’s a community. So, the fact that we lost that space. I woke up Wednesday very depressed but on the other hand, look at all these people here. We still have our community, we still do what we do,” said Alicia Degener, president of the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition.
Organizers said the exhibition was intended to give artists an opportunity to reflect on how the fire changed their lives and to help bring closure to a difficult chapter.
“Wednesday is probably the last day I want to talk to anyone about that fire,” Degener said.
Despite the loss, many of the artists have remained together and are working to secure another permanent space nearby, preserving the community that survived the destruction of the warehouse.
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