‘From My Home to Yours’ at Montclair Art Museum

Editor Published: April 29, 2022 | Updated: April 10, 2022 2 minutes read

Photo Courtesy of Laura Ortman Caroline Monnet and Laura Ortman

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Montclair Art Museum announced that the immersive video, sound and print installation “From My Home to Yours: Caroline Monnet and Laura Ortman” will open on May 7 and run through Jan. 1, 2023, with an accompanying performance series. Museum members are invited to an exhibition preview on May 7 at noon before the installation opens to the public.

Presented in the United States for the first time, the installation transforms MAM’s Rand Gallery into a vivid, resonant space to pause and reflect on home, long-distance connection and the places in between. “From My Home to Yours” links two accomplished indigenous artists who are longtime friends and collaborators: Montreal-based visual artist Caroline Monnet, who is Anishinaabe and French, and Brooklyn-based musician and composer Laura Ortman, who is White Mountain Apache. The pair exchanged images and compositions from their respective homes 400 miles apart. The resulting sensory collage layers abstracted natural forms and Super-8 movies from Monnet’s mother’s First Nations community of Kitigan Zibi, Quebec, with Ortman’s local field recordings and experimental violin.

The title of the work draws from Ortman’s signature on her notes to Monnet. As the installation ebbs between harmony and tension, stillness and fire, it disrupts distance between people and places with an intimacy that can be heard, seen and felt.

“‘From My Home to Yours’ represents an exciting new direction in our exhibition and programming, offering museum visitors captivating experiences unlike anything previously offered at MAM,” MAM Executive Director Ira Wagner said.

“The bond between these two innovative artists and their respective homes in the Northeast feels powerful upon entering the gallery, engaging all the senses,” MAM Native American art curator Laura J. Allen said. “Bringing the work from Montreal to Montclair is such an appropriate coda to highlight Laura Ortman’s local contributions. We are excited to extend this place-based experience with more music, projection and performance this year for our community in Lenapehoking.”

Upcoming public events are:

Opening Day on Saturday, May 7, will feature an artist talk, “Caroline Monnet and Laura Ortman Together” from 1 to 2 p.m., moderated by Allen, live and streamed.

• A “Sunset Live Score and Screenings with Laura Ortman” will be held Friday, June 17, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Ortman will amplify MAM’s surroundings with a live score to the exhibit alongside an outdoor film projection, followed by screenings of award-winning short films by both Ortman and Monnet.