Fire Island Pines and Cherry Grove on Long Island in New York are two important towns for the queer community. The dunescape that connects them is known as "The Meat Rack" and is used as a gay cruising area during Summer.

 

In the work Shift - The Meat Rack, Fire Island, an almost frameless screen shows static tracking shots, which are reflected in the proportionally arranged mirrors of the video installation. The portrait-format video and the two mirror surfaces form a three-dimensional pictorial space in which the dead tree skeletons, which rise up sculpturally from the landscape of the cruising area into the sky, become a moving vanitas motif.

 

Many people who have died of AIDS had their ashes scattered in the Meat Rack. In this context, the immersive video installation opens up a meditative moment of remembrance and reflects upon the queer history of this special place.