Betye Saar at The Huntington
November 11, 2023 - November 30, 2027
In The Huntington’s American Gallery, Betye Saar‘s installation, Drifting Toward Twilight, includes a vast wooden canoe, floating within a deep blue painted gallery. The boat rests atop a mound of branches and twigs, underlit with colorful LEDs, adding a flare of drama to the scene (lighting also shifts throughout the day in the space to elicit the passing of time). Inside the boat, an array of wooden cages (each holding a pair of antlers) sit on wooden chairs, taking the places of any would-be rowers. The moon’s phases are painted high on the wall in front of the canoe as if guiding its passage. Another wall has a quote by Saar herself that narrates the happenings: “The moon keeps vigil as a lone canoe drifts in a sea of tranquility seeking serenity in the twilight.”
To collect materials for this installation, Saar turned to the Huntington itself, foraging plant materials from the grounds and adding them to her assemblage. “It is my desire that Drifting Toward Twilight brings the outside in, blending the gardens with the gallery and creating an immersive, contemplative experience for the viewer,” she explains. Saar is a well-known assemblage artist whose work has addressed themes of racism and inequity. Here, Drifiting seems to speak to a solitary psychological or spiritual journey that one undergoes, through shifting tides and changing seasons, to find oneself.
Photo: Betye Saar, Drifting Toward Twilight, 2023 (installation view). © 2023 Betye Saar. Photo: Joshua White / JWPictures.com. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.