Art in the Windows- Markers of Memory

You've probably noticed the art exhibit in 97 Orchard's stoop and street level windows. As part of our Tenement Windows series exploring connections between past and present immigrant experiences, Korean-born artist Sook Jin Jo and a group of students at the Jacob Riis Neighborhood Settlement House fashioned grave markers and memory pieces out of reclaimed wood, fabric, beads, and other materials.

The cross-shaped markers are tributes both to the artists' ancestors (who fared from Korea, Central and South America, and the Caribbean) and to the Moore family's baby daughter, who died of malnutrition while residing in 97 Orchard. (The Moores emigrated from Ireland in 1869.)

In Jo's own words: "After my own experience as an immigrant, and losing friends and family in recent years, I began to contemplate, 'where did we come from and where we are going.'"

See how the display is illuminated eerily at night: