DARK SIDE OF THE WOON January 18th - Feb 25th 2019

Dark Side of the Woon features photographs, video, found artifacts such as foam, balls, and plastic bottles, and site-specific mono prints that are hanging on the wall. These “Chemotrophic Prints” were created with iron-oxidizing bacteria found near Lyman Mill Pond at the Centredale Superfund Site. Working en plein air (often from a boat), Sto uses his own marbling-like process to print directly off of the surface of water with paper. The end results are ghostly imprints that contain both the natural and anthropogenic residue of the site’s history. 

“Do you know the Woonasquatucket River? To know is to go. Its to see, feel, listen, smell, walk, ride, and even fall in. Its to share stories. To hop fences, feed the eels chicken, and have a secret spot. The Woon is ubiquitous yet unseen, its involuntary power of invisibility gets stronger the more we ignore it. While we have our backs to the water, it surges with power and endlessly flows through the city carrying with it a storied people’s history. Under the highways and bridges we made, under the ground we soiled, the Woony is live streaming, day and night, just for you. It is the bloodstream of the city, naturally pumping with fish and nutrients while seasoned with the industrial by-products of the revenue stream. The lab results show traces of dioxin and greed: toxicity but not a toxic city.”

Sto Len is a NY-based artist and waterway worker, who came to Providence this past December to get to know the Woonasquatucket. On “Woon Walks” that followed the river’s edge and an icey canoe trip through some of the most polluted sites,  Sto explored the more hidden areas of the river and documented his discoveries for the public to see. 

Supported through the Art Culture and Tourism department, as part of the Woonasquatucket River Greenway Arts project