Betye Saar Offers Haunting And Evocative Immersive Installation at the Huntington

Paddle your own canoe.

Never, though the winds may rave,

Falter or look back:

But upon the darkest wave

Leave a shining track.

Sarah Bolton

Drifting Towards Twilight, Betye Saar’s large-scale immersive installation, commissioned by the Huntington Art Museum and Library, is a deeply moving sculptural piece, comprised of evocative found materials collected over years along with dried cuttings from the gardens. Set in the middle of a blue-gray hued room, the large canoe filled with assembled travelers is an evocative piece rich in metaphor. With a nod towards global mythic narratives, the canoe, which the artist altered to make it look more vintage, rests on a bed of dried organic materials sourced from the myriad gardens, seemingly in a liminal state between heaven and earth. The intense neon blue light visible underneath the canoe suggests a supernatural voyage into the looming unknown.

In the middle of the canoe, situated on small children’s chairs, are three almost identical bird cages (each slightly larger or smaller than the preceding one) with deer antlers sitting inside. In the front and rear of the canoe are guardian human-like figures which are constructed of altered staircase balustrades. One cannot help but see this as a family portrait of the artist with her husband and three children. Though the white bone antlers can reference death, here they are a symbol of regeneration – as they fall off naturally and grow back even larger. The skeleton-like cages become a vessel for containing the soul while paradoxically letting light and air in.

While Saar has used cages in the past to allude to the slave trade, in this piece the intent seems different. The canoe serves as a metaphor for transitioning from one place to another, from the physical plane to the spiritual plane. The dazzling neon blue light mysteriously illuminates the ground under this cosmic canoe, amplifying the imminence of a supernatural excursion. The subtle and exquisite lighting design shifts the mood ever so slightly, suggesting the sun setting and rising through daylight to nightfall. The phases of the moon painted on the wall speak to Saar’s longstanding interest in mysticism and the occult.

The accompanying short film directed by Kyle Provencio Reingold, program director of Ghetto Film School LA, is a gem. It documents Saar’s history and childhood connections to the Huntington while documenting her process building the installation. This contemplative piece connects to the burial traditions of the Vikings and South Asians whose rituals include majestic funeral pyres floating out to sea. The boat is a widespread and potent symbol of transitioning from one world to the next in mythology. Betye Saar, at 97, is la national treasure, upbeat and masterful as she continues to delight, educate, and surprise as she and we all are drifting inexorably towards the twilight, enjoying the pleasures of creativity, family and kin along the way.

• Nancy Kay Turner; photos by Joshua White provided by the Huntington Art Museum and Library