Mira Cantor: Promiseland

October 31-December 2, 2018
Opening Reception: Friday, November 2, 2018, 5:00-8:00 pm
Gallery Talk: A conversation between Pam Allara and Mira Cantor, December 1, 2018, 200 pm

Promiseland is an installation with sculptures and drawings; a metaphor for hope.

We are in a déjà vu moment. Looking back, it is hard to say we have moved forward. We keep treading water thinking that we as a nation are still built upon greed, domination and white male power at the expense of the preamble to our Constitution and our moral conscience. How do we do the right thing; how do we overcome the insidious brainwashing and lack of education that compromises our judgement?

Making a promise, (taking an oath) is a form of giving hope to some ideal; it indicates that something will actually happen and that it is etched in stone; it doesn't account for the prospect of changing one's mind or circumstantial variations and time. Pledging allegiance to a flag or taking the vow of "I do" are promises we sometimes have a hard time keeping. Promising to stop smoking, taking drugs, doing damage to ourselves and to others, and the little promises to brush our teeth twice a day and to say our prayers at bedtime are good intentions that guide us to do what is beneficial. Promises have come on a grand scale when our framing fathers put together our Constitution: "where all men are created equal" and "life liberty and the pursuit of happiness" were promises for all men and women. We live with promises knowing that they are only fragments of hope that we hang onto. How can you make a promise in the present for the future when we have no idea what the future holds?