This Is How We Walk on the Moon

Abstract

Copies of two books and a newspaper rest, ready for reading, on a white, squiggly bench in the center of the gallery below a vaulted ceiling. On two surrounding tall walls, animations flash on loop all the way to the top. To the right, a framed set of eight drawings illustrate wind in the night grass. On the far side there is a light on, shining twenty-four inches above an illuminated object: a tiny folded zine, placed lightly at the edge of a long, corner-curving shelf. For her MFA Thesis exhibition, This Is How We Walk on the Moon, Leigh Kaulbach uses drawing in various relational forms. The central subject matter are the parallel bonds between herself and her sister, and her two young nieces. Watching the little girls build their private universe inspires a realization that sibling bonds, which feel personal, special, and insulated between sisters, are in fact heirlooms passed down generation to generation. She honors and processes the ineffability, influence, and intimacy of sisterhood with drawing-based books and animations. These transmissive media formats, which include machine learning tools and print publishing, rely on cooperation. Lateral relationships are both the subject and method for making.