poems (for the underground) is an installation of two sculptures that Cohen-Nu\u00f1ez describes as altars\u2014spaces for continual return, charged with shifting energies and intentions. Drawing from their familial lineage of curanderas (healers) from the Dominican Republic, and the Jewish practice of stacking stones to create altar spaces, these works invite reflection on memory, grief, and the role of ritual objects in processing loss. In response to the theme of \u201cinvasive species,\u201d the artist explores generational loss of connection to culture and ancestral land due to immigration, survival, assimilation, and separation. Viewers are encouraged to engage directly with the altars by placing stones on them, continuing a cycle of interaction and adaptation through both human touch and natural forces.<\/p>\n
The installation honors our connection to the underground as a space of transformation, nourishment, and remembrance of those who have passed. In placing these altars in a public space, the artist offers a tribute to the park as a site for mourning and celebration, bridging the material and immaterial worlds.<\/p>\n
Jill Cohen-Nu\u00f1ez is the 2024 https:\/\/socratessculpturepark.org\/devra-freelander-fund\/Devra Freelander\u00a0Artist Fellow
\nAbout the Artist<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
https:\/\/socratessculpturepark.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/artwork\/earth-resonance\/Jill-Cohen-Nunez-2024-1024×788.jpg
\n
\nJill Cohen-Nu\u00f1ez (they\/them) (b. 1992) is a Dominican-American artist from the Bronx, New York. Combining pre-Columbian Caribbean and jewish ancestries with personal mythology, Cohen-Nu\u00f1ez investigates memory, the formation and evolution of rituals, folklore, and spiritual practices using wood, ceramics, stone, glass, and metal. through these arduous methods of creating, their work reflects on generational loss of connection to culture and land through immigration and assimilation. In 2023, they were awarded a New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellowship at Wave Hill and have received grants and scholarships from the Connor Merit Awards, Urban Glass, the Oki Doki studio, and an NYFA city artist corps grant. Cohen-Nu\u00f1ez has participated in residencies at Haverford college, the Newark Print Shop, Manhattan Graphics Center, MASS MoCA, Chashama, and Modern Art Foundry. They have exhibited work at the National Sculpture Society, Bronxartspace, Center for Performance Research, Fordham University, Baad! Bronx Academy of Art and Dance, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Jane Hartsook Gallery at the Greenwich House. They hold a BA in studio art from CUNY City College.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.jillcohen-nunez.com\/” https:\/\/www.jillcohen-nunez.com\/<\/p>\n
Image credit: Ilana Jade Roth<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":5841,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"exhibition-theme":[],"class_list":["post-5840","artwork","type-artwork","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark-2026.kudos.nyc\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artwork\/5840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark-2026.kudos.nyc\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artwork"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark-2026.kudos.nyc\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/artwork"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark-2026.kudos.nyc\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark-2026.kudos.nyc\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"exhibition-theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark-2026.kudos.nyc\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibition-theme?post=5840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}