Untitled from Perth Amboy, 2001
Chromogenic print, 15 x 19 5/8″ (38.1 x 49.8 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Committee on Painting and Sculpture Funds

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Perth Amboy is the title of the solo exhibition of RACHEL HARRISON that is currently on view at Moma in New York. It is also the name of a town in New Jersey, where, in September 2000, an apparition of the Virgin Mary was said to have appeared on the window of a house.

After the supposed apparition became news, pilgrims were flocking to see, pray and occasionally touch the window. RACHEL HARRISON went to the place and documented the incident. The result is a series of 21 photographs that depicts the human palms and fingerprints of believers on the pane, while their faces are hidden behind pooling reflections of cloud and sky.

Perth Amboy is on view at Moma, New York until September 5, 2016. I highly recommend to read the review of this exhibition by MITCH SPEED via Momus.ca and this conversation HARRISON had with NAYLAND BLAKE in 2008 for Bomb Magazine.

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