Artist Profile: Nathaniel Cummings-Lambert

Nathaniel Cummings-Lambert, Corral, 2018, Photo by Sara Morgan

Project

Learn more about ‘Corral’–>

DISCOVER

Nathaniel Cummings-Lambert (b. Sylva, NC in 1987; lives and works in New York) received his BA from Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts in 2011 and MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 2015. He works in film, installation, and sculpture. An interest in land rights, the contemporary legacy of colonialism, and federal barriers and borders guides and pervades his work.

Cummings-Lambert’s work has been exhibited at Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, UT (2018), Blue Roof Studios, Loa Angeles, CA (2017), and Poesi-O-Rama, Malmö, Sweden (2016). His films have been screened at the Anti-Matter Film Festival, Victoria, Canada (2011), Redhook Cine Soirée, Brooklyn (2011), and he was awarded Best Post-Production at the Dorothy H. Hirshon Film Festival, New York (2011).

CONNECT

Instagram

@ncummingslambert

ENGAGE

Audio Guide

Listen to Cummings-Lambert speak about his project:

Instagram Takeover

 

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2018 Artist Fellow Nathaniel Cummings Lambert (@ncummingslambert) is taking over our account today to share insights into his project ‘Corral:’ ……………………. ‘Corral’ is a split rail fence labyrinth with a series of gates that populates the structure. As visitors explore the installation the paths of the labyrinth shift as the gates lock into different positions when visitors pass through. . This constantly changes the course of the structure and makes it different for every visitor. Corral was inspired by wooden animal pens that guide and sort cattle as well as the fence, gate and stiles of the public footpath networks in the United Kingdom. . . #SocratesSculpturePark #SocratesAnnual18 #nathanielcummingslambert #publicart #nyc #installationart #art #sculpture #queens #lic

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2018 Artist Fellow Nathaniel Cummings Lambert (@ncummingslambert) is taking over our account today to share insights into his project ‘Corral:’ …………………… I constructed kissing gates throughout ‘Corral.’ My interest in this style of gates stems from having encountered them many times while walking and hiking in England – where I lived for six years during my childhood. . These forms of gates and stiles that were once novel to me, now interest me for their utilitarian vernacular and the legacy of free access and movement associated with them. They are ubiquitous throughout the bucolic landscape of the UK due to the inheritance of the Right to Roam and Rights of Way laws in the U.K., which protect an extensive network of public footpaths that traverse farm and grazing lands as well as uncultivated and publicly registered common land. . Swipe through the slideshow to see an inventory of the gates throughout my installation, my wife helping weld the latches for the gates, and my son demonstrating the kissing gates. . Thank you to Socrates crew for help installing the project, as well as to George Carr and Isabel Theselius. . . #SocratesSculpturePark #SocratesAnnual18 #nathanielcummingslambert #publicart #nyc #installationart #art #sculpture #queens #lic #isabeltheselius #grctree

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2018 Artist Fellow Nathaniel Cummings-Lambert (@ncummingslambert) is taking over our account today to share insights into his project ‘Corral:’ ……………. The use of the corrals and gates reflects my ongoing interest with the construction of social spaces and its interaction with systemic forms of power and regulatory controls through divisions of state, federal and tribal controlled land and the way that land can be used.The rise of the strict enforcement of private property laws in the United States is directly motivated by a history of racist tactics, restricting Native Americans rights to destroy indigenous ways of living as well as constraining food sources. The introduction of ranging cattle also impacted indigenous plant life, carried diseases and carved the way for settlers to follow. . A large part of my inspiration for ‘Corral’ came from being an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The boundary of the tribe’s reservation borders the Great Smoky National Park and the Nantahala National Forest in Western North Carolina. Members of the tribe are keenly alert that their rights to hunting, fishing or gathering on the reservation immediately evaporate when they cross onto Federally controlled land. This awareness was cultivated in my own consciousness when visiting my family on the reservation and hiking on land they own which directly borders the Great Smoky National Park. The boundary line is more subtle than a wooden fence on many parts of the reservation, marked by a piece of plastic ribbon or line of spray paint. This boundary sis an important reminder of how tied we are to our land, but also to a complex set of laws and treaties which govern our relationship to the surrounding State and Nation. . . #SocratesSculpturePark #SocratesAnnual18 #nathanielcummingslambert #publicart #nyc #installationart #art #sculpture #queens #lic#ebci #easternbandofcherokeeindians

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