Lexa Walsh
at The Guardhouse
Main Entrance, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture
June 22 – September 8, 2024
FOR-SITE is honored to present Lexa Walsh at The Guardhouse as part of The Guardhouse Program, which is designed to serve three artists annually, each of whom will create a temporary art installation inside a historic, former military guard station at the main entrance to Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. This program activating The Guardhouse is free and open to the public, viewable through the windows 24 hours a day.
Artist and cultural worker Lexa Walsh’s installation at The Guardhouse, entitled Mourning Song (2024), invites viewers to reflect on individual and collective grief, loss, and mourning while witnessing the horrors of war. The artist responds to the military origins of Fort Mason, an active military outpost from 1850-1962, by dressing the guard station with an installation of ceramic, textile, and mixed media works resembling medals, plaques, and other service decorations. Playing on the word “decoration,” the artist incorporates components of domestic and bodily adornment into her ceramic sculptures, such as tassels, belts, and bling. Many of the pieces are physically connected through dark chains and braided hair—elements of Victorian mourning jewelry. These oversized awards are impossible to wear, much like the weight and burden that war creates.
IMAGE: Installation view of Lexa Walsh at The Guardhouse; Photo by Dan Nelson
Emanating from the walls of The Guardhouse is a sound collage incorporating excerpts from Walsh’s ongoing interviews with Veterans as well as civilians. During her conversations, Walsh uncovered the many nuances between people’s experiences and the complexities of war. This installation poses open-ended questions about who is valued, creating a space on this former military site to foster dialogue, community, and healing.
Walsh’s installation is accompanied by a ten-minute sound collage incorporating an interview with Veteran Kenneth “Rubi” Moore. At The Guardhouse, visitors can listen as this sonic component of the artist’s installation plays on loop. This edited recording is also available for online listening:
If you, too, have been affected by war and would like to share your thoughts and experiences with the artist, please contact us here.
The installation is free and open to the public, viewable through the windows 24 hours a day.
The Guardhouse is located at the main entrance of Fort Mason Center.
About the Artist
Lexa Walsh makes context-responsive, multifaceted projects, exhibitions, objects, and publications about power and value. As a long-time Oakland-based artist, now working out of the Hudson Valley, coming of age in the Bay Area post-punk cultural scene of the 1990’s largely informs Walsh’s work. She has exhibited and performed internationally for over 25 years at public spaces and institutions, both large and small, including the de Young Museum, di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Exploratorium, Kala Art Institute, Marin MoCA, Oakland Museum of California, SFMOMA, Walker Art Center, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
Lexa Walsh at The Guardhouse is presented by FOR-SITE in partnership with Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. The Guardhouse Program is made possible thanks to generous support from the ARB Fund.
