Planthouse is pleased to present Floods and Houses, fourteen new woodcuts by Nina Jordan, opening on January 27, 2022. Jordan continues to explore images of homes in this new series of works. The flood series, eleven prints drawn from pictures of recent climate disasters, presents scenes where the sense of place has been washed away. The marked heavily grained woodblock plays to the distressed surfaces of the homes and flows with the floodwaters. Jordan’s use of color and loose carving technique create a painterly and texturally rich materiality, which informs the content. In the aftermath of tragedy, the threats to our survival as individuals, households, and communities are displayed. The three larger woodcuts are images of Brooklyn real estate. The large format is employed to awaken our appreciation of these everyday properties/homes and reveals the interplay of grandeur and value, shelter and security.

Jordan writes, “I use images from real estate listings as references for my prints. The listings are often poignant and strange and speak of our search for safety, our struggle for survival. The houses tell the story of our many different economic and personal realities. In appropriating these images, I speak of the conflict between home as a commodity and home as a habitat essential to survival. With these prints, I ask: who lives in this house, who wants to live in this house, and what does that say? A recent series depicting homes partially submerged by floodwaters addresses the question of shelter in this time of climate crisis. These images ask the same questions: who lives in this house, where are they now, and what does that say?”

Nina Jordan is a painter and printmaker living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She is the recipient of a NYFA fellowship in printmaking and artists’ books. Her prints and artists’ books are in many collections, including the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the New York Public Library, the Yale University Art Gallery, and the University of Richmond Museums.