Solo Exhibition at Wave Hill’s Sunroom Project Space in Bronx, NY. Curated by Eileen Jeng Lynch. July 16 - August 28, 2022.

Site-specific installation consisting of static cling vinyl, madder root and dye resist on 23 yards on silk, string, dead dough, peppercorns, eggshell

Text by Eileen Jeng Lynch:

“Krystal DiFronzo’s exhibition in the Sunroom examines intergenerational trauma, healing practices, and gendered and stereotypical notions of health, care and emotional labor. Also, addressed is the concept of pharmakon, an ancient Greek term that describes a medicinal substance as both remedy and poison. Installed in a spiral formation, large silk hangings feature imagery of figures in states of contortion and dance, and fragmented bodies along with flora and fauna. Painted with natural dyes created from madder root, the pieces tie in medicinal and spiritual histories of the plant’s symbology and herbal uses. On the Sunroom windows are detailed silhouettes of the toxic angel’s trumpet (Brugmansia), a flower associated with hallucinogenic properties. DiFronzo’s work is inspired by ancestral culture, histories and mythologies as well as lived experiences grappling with gender, familial strife, illness, and belief. In this installation, they explore different practices of release and comfort. A particular focus is on the Tarantella, a folk dance in southern Italy (where their paternal grandfather is from) derived from stories about women bitten by a poisonous spider for which the only relief would be an ecstatic dance accompanied by music. On one of the silk panels is a painting of the book La Terra del Remorso (The Land of Remorse) by mid-twentieth century Italian anthropologist Ernesto de Martino, which discusses tarantism, a manic condition characterized by an uncontrollable impulse to dance. De Martino sees this as largely affecting women on the margins of a patriarchal society and that knowledge of this behavior can also be lost through cultural erasure. Low to the ground, at the center of the spiral of translucent silks is a bread sculpture of a spider with a human face that is lying on its back with legs sprawled. DiFronzo further connects these rituals in folk magic and Roman Catholicism to stories of outcast women and patron saints who comfort the poisoned. The Brugmansia depicted on the windows shows DiFronzo’s response to the manipulative control their bodybuilding father places on these flowering plants, which he propagates as a hobby, tending to them with uncharacteristic delicacy and care. Responding to these repressive actions, DiFronzo seeks solace within the natural world in their work while examining the complex associations of beauty, gender, and labor.”

Image courtesy of Wave Hill. Photo: Stefan Hagen.