Island Palimpsest
Sherry Aine Te
2025 Summer Residency
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Island Palimpsest is an immersive cartographic exhibition that traces Governors Island’s evolution from a military outpost to reclaimed public commons. Using the metaphor of weaving, the exhibition threads together moments of temporality, adaptive reuse, and landscape repair across multiple time scales. Through overlapping layers of archival photos, temporary moments at the current time scale, and master plans, the exhibition highlights key phases: 19th-century fortifications, 20th-century Coast Guard use, land reclamation, and the current transformation into a climate-forward public park. Island Palimpsest highlights the role of the ground as a witness to these shifting changes.
COLLABORATORS/SUPPORT
Archivial Source Material: The Trust for Governors Island
People
