Second Skin synthesizes work from Shin’s beloved series Tidal Witness, S.O.S., and—the source of the exhibition’s namesake— Second Skin. Second Skin (series) transforms leather shroud from Jean Shin’s 2021 installation Fallen into two wall hangings suspended from hemlock branches. For Fallen, Shin enshrouded a large 140-year-old eastern hemlock tree on Olana, Frederic Church’s former estate, with colorful leather discards repurposed from the fashion industry. The hemlock was one of many that Church had planted to replace those felled by the leather tanning industry in the 19th Century.

Reminiscent of large maps, these tapestries bear the contours of the tree trunk’s form and the remarkable color shifts that mark exposure levels to the sun. If Fallen was the tree’s open funeral, these works are the recording of its memory.

Photos by Dan Watkins Photography for Praise Shadows.