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Wandering

Julie Mehretu’s current exhibition at the Marian Goodman Gallery is astronomical. Our Days, Like a Shadow (a non-abiding hauntology) is a series of large, new, multicolored paintings that seem to float like planets, inviting viewers to walk around and in between them as if orbiting through a cosmic labyrinth.

Performance

Julie Mehretu and John Jasperse Projects: “Wandering”

Place

Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, NY, May 23, 2026

Words

Cecilia Whalen

Andrea Soto and Zo Williams in “Wandering” by John Jasperse. Paintings by Julie Mehretu at Marian Goodman Gallery. Photograph by Maria Baranova

The exhibition's title, Our Days, Like a Shadow comes from Chronicles 29:15, where King David, towards the end of his life, reflects on the reality of human mortality in the face of the awesome and eternal Divine. “We are strangers before Thee,” David says in his prayer to God, “and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are like a shadow and there is none abiding.”  

In exploring this fleeting nature of life and human existence, as well as the idea of the sojourner, Mehretu sought to incorporate dance, a medium defined by transience. For four days in late May, choreographer John Jasperse presented “Wandering,” a skillful, sensitive, and illuminating site-specific dance made for this occasion. 

“Wandering” started outside Mehretu's universe, on a stairway which leads up into the Goodman Gallery. A group of seven dancers slowly rolled on the steps and slid down a handrail. The seven performers, all accomplished postmodern dancers (among them Catherine Kirk of Trisha Brown Dance Company and Mak Thornquest of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company), slowly rose and began a series of seemingly disconnected solo phrases.  

As the dancers guided the audience through Mehretu's works, they broke off and combined into duets. Two dancers fell and balanced on top of a dark mattress; others, trapped in strips of cardboard, drifted across the room like tumbleweed caught in a dry breeze. Hahn Rowe and Will Johnson's live sonic landscape accentuated the movement and complemented the scraping cardboard with sparkling percussion and echoing synthesizer. 

Cynthia Koppe, Zo Williams, and Andrea Soto  in “Wandering” by John Jasperse. Paintings by Julie Mehretu at Marian Goodman Gallery. Photograph by Maria Baranova

Cynthia Koppe, Zo Williams, and Andrea Soto in “Wandering” by John Jasperse. Paintings by Julie Mehretu at Marian Goodman Gallery. Photograph by Maria Baranova

“Wandering,” in spite of its title, actually did have a destination: The dance ascended from the ground floor and ended on the final floor of the Mehretu exhibition, building to an upbeat and stylish climax where the dancers repeated faster unison phrases to pulsing DJ-remixed songs.

“Wandering’s” path, however, was not linear. Rather, the dance seemed to rise through the gallery like smoke from a candle, growing and expanding in its ascension and lingering even after it could no longer be seen. 

The dancers were there then not there, slipping into place and out of sight inconspicuously. Oftentimes, they would appear from behind, sliding a foot or an elbow across the wall less than an inch from an unsuspecting audience member's back. 

In “Wandering,” many things happened at once. With ingenious detail, Jasperse allowed for things to coexist in different places, even when they couldn't be seen at the same time. For example, one duet took place in a corner, hidden from general view. For this sequence, Jasperse fixed a light to the floor which projected the dancers' shadows outside of the small space, quietly announcing the duet to the larger gallery and allowing it to exist outside of singular space, instead over multiple planes.

Maria Fleischman, Zo Williams, and composer/musician Hahn Rowe in “Wandering” by John Jasperse. Paintings by Julie Mehretu at Marian Goodman Gallery. Photograph by Maria Baranova

Maria Fleischman, Zo Williams, and composer/musician Hahn Rowe in “Wandering” by John Jasperse. Paintings by Julie Mehretu at Marian Goodman Gallery. Photograph by Maria Baranova



This use of light acknowledged Mehretu's own curiosity with light, particularly in regard to her TRANSpaintings, which play with translucence. These large, colorful pieces which are supported by sculptor Nairy Baghramian's standing structures, are altered depending on the lighting. (Bodies, too, can be seen through these paintings, and Jasperse played with this, as well.)

The TRANSpaintings, and really all of Our Days, Like a Shadow, blend and blur many colors in intricate abstract patterns. The series can be overwhelming upon first walkthrough. Mehretu's works are multi-layered: the TRANSpaintings, for example, contain layers of inks and acrylics painted over ghost images from recent media. To really appreciate each work's full complexity, a viewer would need many visits over many hours, and even then, they might miss Mehretu's intricacies of color, texture, and material. 

Somehow, “Wandering” simplified the experience. 

In one particular sequence, for example, a dancer would finish a phrase then go stand in front of a painting. The dancer's costume (by MX Oops) was coordinated to highlight a particular color in a piece, so that when the dancer aligned themself with the painting, all of a sudden, that color would reveal itself. 

In these moments, it was as if I could see inside of Mehretu’s paintings. Within the infinity of her blended colors came a single, glowing color, one that I couldn’t necessarily name but that I somehow, thanks to Jasperse, could recognize. These were remarkable moments of clarity and I longed to hold onto them. But then, the dancer began to move again. In the next instant, he disappeared. And the color, too, blended back into the painting and was gone.    

Cecilia Whalen


Cecilia Whalen is a New York City-based dancer, choreographer, and writer. She is a graduate of the Martha Graham School and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In addition to her work with Fjord, her writing can be found in various publications, including Dance Magazine and Commonweal Magazine

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