©Madelon Galland, 7th Street Stump, NYC, 1999.
The Stump Project began in NYC in 1999.
Once I upholstered the first little stump on 11st, I began to notice other stumps in dejected spaces all over NYC. These simple interventions of care grew into my MFA Thesis show at Hunter College and struck a nerve in the imaginations of those who encountered them. Appearing purposefully, but without fanfare, without plaques, white walls or labels, they confounded the line between art and care, between injury and nurture, and between rejection and worship, as I created them on my knees, creating small eddies of attention in the otherwise flowing current that is pedestrian traffic in New York City. What was below the radar and littered in garbage, became a little shiny cushioned seat, at least by implication; inviting a new engagement with ambiguous public spaces.
I am revisiting this project now with an exhibit in France, satellite installations, and finally with an online inclusive presence on this website. And I would finally like to invite others to participate and give a forum for these gestures and ideas to come together in my blog and online gallery. To participate in these interventions or something like-minded, please do so and send me photos for inclusion on this site. I hope this site to be an incubator, archive and online gallery flowing from an impulse in street art to create a relationship with our environment and a discourse with our community. On this site you will find more photos as well as texts about the process and thoughts behind the work, as well as instructions for how to do it yourself and contact information. If you are so inspired please risk to take the action as well in your city and send submissions to me for consideration to be included in the online gallery page.
sincerely, madelon galland