Where We Are is Always Miles Away

Tavares Strachan is known for exploring themes regarding space, containment and homeostasis, namely preserving the nature of moments and locative installations. There are definite similarities between Strachan's '05 work, "The Difference Between What We Have and What We Want," and his '06 project, " Where We Are is Always Miles Away." In "Difference," Strachan removed a 4.5 ton block of Arctic ice to be displayed in his native Nassau, sealed in a solar-powered freezer. The concept of preserving objects exactly as they are found in their native locales is explored again in "Miles," wherein the artist excised a 1.5 ton section of New Haven's Crwon Street (including all the signs, meters, remaining earth and other materials attached to the section) and brought it to San Francisco [1]. Again the piece was displayed in a hermetically-sealed containment unit designed to mimic the atmosphere that would have surrounded the piece at the time of removal, essentially preserving a place and a moment both at once.