Earth Odyssey

Presented for the first time in this multi-media exhibition is a body of work that Zoe Cinel has been creating since 2018, when they started the process to become a non-resident alien with extraordinary abilities. About their experience, the artist writes, “It is challenging and highly performative. The labor is invisible, the hopes are high, and it takes a village to keep an alien in this country. To cope, I turned it into a journey, wearing the “alienness” as an extraordinary superpower, as a costume to protect my vulnerability. And so began my Earth Odyssey!”

Longing for home, Cinel - dressed as their alter ego “The Alien” - traveled far east and west, exploring the nation’s iconic landscapes, symbols and pop/media culture references, feeling a sense of familiarity yet estrangement. In Cinel’s words, “When visiting new places as “The Alien” I asked myself: how do I relate to new geographies, iconic landmarks, and places of memory? Traveling with a silver suit and a camera, I intuitively stop to capture real landscapes that I encounter, drawn to places that are surreal yet (somewhat) familiar: a giant pastry-themed carousel in an empty food court, an abandoned vintage car next to a sign that says ‘danger, rattlesnakes’ in the middle of the desert, a brutalist Gotham-like subway.”

They conclude, ”The Alien suit is my armor. An embodiment carrying roots of a distant land. And a visualization of the red, pulsing sensation of being forever split between places and cultures.”