Terra Incognita
Artist Tilla Crowne — an Elder of London’s Spanish & Portuguese Community and a Trustee of Bevis Marks Synagogue — on the Hudson Valley as a place of refuge, beginning with Luis Moses Gomez, whose ancestors fled the Spanish Inquisition.
What if we thought of the “unknown lands” of ancient maps instead as places where we, our pasts, and our futures were unknown?
Flipping the phrase terra incognita on its head, artist in residence Tilla Crowne takes us on a journey through the Hudson Valley. Following the natural folds of rock through geological time, she parallels this with human actions and the marks left that echo down through the generations. A land where we are unknown can be a place of safety; an opportunity for a new start, at a great enough distance to process our own history.
Starting with the story of Luis Moses Gomez, whose ancestors fled the Spanish Inquisition and eventually found sanctuary in the New World, a complex and beautiful web of connections is revealed that links those who built their lives in this land of safety. Like the delicate mycelial networks that form fungal networks through the forest, a global pattern forms, linking these diasporas of the dispossessed.
About the artist
Born in the UK and based in London, Tilla Crowne’s work explores themes of identity, memory, and the body. Largely autobiographical, she uses biological materials — broken eggshells, plants, insects, fungus — as media, either drawing directly onto them or using them to transform objects and spaces. An active member of the Jewish community, Tilla is an Elder of the Spanish and Portuguese Community in London and a member and Trustee of Bevis Marks Synagogue.