Kimberly Hahn, Bloodlines, 2011, Paint, pastel, cotton fabric, thread, and ribbon, 92 ½ x 109 x 54 in.
Bloodlines addresses Santa Barbara's sold image, a willingly accepted paradisiacal label, in the form of a Brechtian Verfremdungseffekt*-inspired "whitewash" facade punctured by red ribbons. Documenting the struggles of Latino youth, the red ribbons mark clashes at which blood was spilled, and they emanate from a chalkboard-style, territorial map; the bloodlines reveal the facade as charade. The artwork engenders questions about paradise as an ideal and reality's pale imitation; the sale and inherent maintenance of an image that lacks empathy, community, and ignores human need and loss; ownership and control of land; and legacy shaped by our choices and actions.
*estrangement effect