Willa Goettling

Visual Description: An accordion fold book sits unfolded on a pedestal. The book is 6 inches tall and 40 inches across. Spanning the length of one side of the book is a blue with white shadowy, photographic image of rocks, plant matter, unfurled string, and netting. The images are abstract and spectral. On the other side of the book is a poem titled “a geology breaks in half to grow”.

The poem transcript can be read here.

Visual Description: Hanging suspended in the center of the installation is a black and white photograph of light illuminating two small points within a limestone cave. The print is 14 inches across and 21 inches tall, semi-transparent, and mounted on plexi-glass. On the floor, positioned directly below the print is a small pile of calcium carbonate (extracted from limestone). The print and calcium carbonate together are titled “the temperature of dissociation / the process of dissolution.”

Visual Description: Stone furthest to the right on a dark blue shelf. The stone is roughly 4-8 inches in diameter, organically shaped, in varying shades of gray and tan. Short poetic phrases are carved across the stones’ surfaces, which liken the geologic and industrial processes that limestone undergoes to the impacts of capitalism on working class bodies.

The stone reads: 

“If there’s a major geological event (a trauma) 
limestone can crystalize into marble (an un-feeling) 
or deteriorate (sentimental).”

Visual Description: Stone in the center on a dark blue shelf. The stone is roughly 4-8 inches in diameter, organically shaped, in varying shades of gray and tan. Short poetic phrases are carved across the stones’ surfaces, which liken the geologic and industrial processes that limestone undergoes to the impacts of capitalism on working class bodies.

The stone in the center reads: 

“In a process called dissociation the stone shifts from a geology, to an industry.”

Visual Description: One of two stones furthest to the left on a dark blue shelf. The stone is roughly 4-8 inches in diameter, organically shaped, in varying shades of gray and tan. Short poetic phrases are carved across the stones’ surfaces, which liken the geologic and industrial processes that limestone undergoes to the impacts of capitalism on working class bodies.

The stone reads:

“Of all the caves, limestone is most common.”

Visual Description: One of two stones furthest to the left on a dark blue shelf. The stone is roughly 4-8 inches in diameter, organically shaped, in varying shades of gray and tan. Short poetic phrases are carved across the stones’ surfaces, which liken the geologic and industrial processes that limestone undergoes to the impacts of capitalism on working class bodies.

The stone reads:

“what was buried there?”

About

Willa Goettling is an artist and educator interested in art as a tool for information sharing, research and community building. Her practice is largely based around the production and distribution of printed matter. Willa received her MFA in Interdisciplinary Book & Paper from Columbia College Chicago (2019) and BA in Medical Anthropology & Global Health from the University of Washington (2016). While at Columbia, she was a Print Production Fellow and contributing writer for the Journal of Artists’ Books; taught undergraduate and graduate printmaking workshops; and received an Albert P Weisman Award for her MFA thesis. In 2020 she was an Artist in Residence at Eureka! House via the Center for Artistic Activism (Kingston, NY). She has taught workshops at Parsons, Ugly Duckling Presse, and Interference Archive among organizations around the country. She currently serves as the Programs Manager at Smack Mellon Gallery (Brooklyn, NY) and is a 2023 SHIFT Artist in Residence.