Martine Syms: Incense Sweaters & Ice

The Graham Foundation is pleased to present an immersive installation by Los Angeles-based artist, and self-described “conceptual entrepreneur,” Martine Syms.  At the center of the exhibition is Syms’ first feature length film Incense Sweaters & Ice. Through the daily life of the main protagonist—Girl, a traveling nurse—the project explores the proliferation of ways in which one’s image is captured and transmitted in public and private life—from surveillance cameras to smartphones—and the ways one moves between looking, being looked at, and remaining unseen.

Martine Syms works in video, performance, and publishing. She received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. From 2007 to 2011, Syms was codirector of Golden Age, a project space in Chicago focused on printed matter; she is also the founder of Dominica, an independent publishing company dedicated to exploring blackness as a topic, reference, marker, and audience in visual culture. Syms is represented by Bridget Donahue, New York; and Sadie Coles HQ, London.

Image: Martine Syms, Incense Sweaters & Ice (still), 2017, Los Angeles. Courtesy of the artist and Bridget Donahue, New York