Tiger Strikes Asteroid Greenville and Redux Contemporary Art Center are excited to present MAINTENANCE OF WAY an exhibition that brings together the work of Hannah Barnes and Gyun Hur. Barnes and Hur create work that considers place as a mental and physical construct built by layers of time, a collection of striations. The exhibition takes its title from the phrase that means “the upkeep and repair of a railroad track”. Upkeep and repair, maintaining one’s way, is a process of labor and care. These artists position care at the forefront of their practices. They explore the internal work it takes to notice, remember, and hold close the corporeal and the intangible.  

Barnes and Hur explore the idea of maintenance in their practices as a physical and emotional pursuit, connected both to one’s private self and a broader public society. For Barnes, this manifests in a contemplative practice that exists as an antidote to reactionary modes of existence. Her practice is a model for a quiet maintenance of way, an argument for steady and intense labor and thoughtful reflection on the past and present. Hur seeks to forge vulnerability, labor, and memory through form. The artist’s installations and performances unravel temporary sites for remembrance through process. Hand shredded silk flowers speak to the invisible labor of dwelling in nostalgic melancholia as a meditation on the passage of time.

MAINTENANCE OF WAY is an exhibition that elucidates the tether between palpable touch and conceptual thought. Through the ritualistic act of making, Barnes and Hur cut and mend, cover and reveal, allowing for the layering of content and meaning. These artists have a spirit of generosity in their work, holding space for the ungraspable. Their work invites the viewer to share in the collective experience of being private selves in public spaces.