Drawing on his research and work about American symbolism, mythology, history, settler occupation, Native Nations, and ecological concerns, Jay Critchley: Democracy of the Land, Inc., FLAGrancy confronts our torrid and complicated history of what it means to be an American and how control of and access to the Land defines our personal and cultural identities. The project moves beyond “farm to table” to “Land to Land” — challenging the corporate supply chain to return to the Land, uncontaminated, from what’s taken.
The installation will highlight Critchley’s ongoing series of modified and fabricated American flags, recent editions fashioned with embroidered and appliqued corporate logos of the Standard Oil Company (1882–1911).
A central component of the exhibition is Critchley’s iZONE, a refurbished portable restroom that will serve as a space for reflection and action. Each Wednesday, from January 29 to February 26, the gallery will host “iZONE Days”, a series of activities for students and the public to engage with the exhibition’s layered themes.
Featured Image:
“Jay Critchley, The Toxicity of Capitalism—Miss Tampon Liberty, a gown made of 3,000 plastic tampon applicators washed up on beaches. Performance photo at a UK Conference on Menstruation and Sustainability where Critchley gave the keynote. University of St. Andrews, Scotland, 2023. Photo: Gayle McIntyre, University of St. Andrews.”
About Jay Critchley
Jay Critchley is a Provincetown-based artist whose work has traversed the globe, showing across the US and in Argentina, Japan, England, Spain, France, Holland, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, and Columbia. He is an interdisciplinary, conceptual and performance artist, writer and activist.
His movie, Toilet Treatments, won an HBO Award and he gave a TEDx Talk: Portrait of the Artist as a Corporation. He founded the patriotic Old Glory Condom Corporation that won a controversial three-year legal battle for its US Trademark His 2015 survey show at the Provincetown Art Association & Museum traveled to Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. He has received awards from the Boston Society of Architects and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in NYC for his environmental projects.
His artist residencies include: the Santa Fe Art Institute, New Mexico; Fundacion Valparaiso, Mojacar, Andalucia, Spain; CAMAC, Marnay-sur-Seine, France; Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center, NYC; Milepost 5, Portland, OR; Cill Rialaig, Co. Kerry, Ireland; and Harvard University where he also lectured.
Jay recently was the keynote speaker at the UK Conference on Menstruation and Sustainability at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and spoke at the Nuffield Ireland Conference in Dublin, Ireland.
The Massachusetts State Legislature honored Jay as an artist and founder and director of the Provincetown Community Compact, producer of the Swim for Life, which has raised $6M+ for AIDS, women’s health and the community since 1988. The Compact raises funds for the Native Land Conservancy through a volunteer Honor Tax.
Related Exhibition Events:
Opening Reception + Performance: Tuesday, January 28, 6–8pm, Montserrat Gallery
Artists Conversation – Jay Critchley and Ari Montford: Wednesday, January 29th, 3–4pm, Room H101
A Cure for Insomnia: The Films of Jay Critchley: Wednesday, February 12, 6:00pm H101
Film screening followed by a conversation between the artist and curator/scholar Jackson Davidow
Closing Reception + Fundraiser for the Native Land Conservancy (Mashpee, MA):
Wednesday, March 5, 6-8PM
iZone Days: Wednesdays, 11–12pm + 3–4pm, Montserrat Gallery (unless otherwise noted)
Wednesday, January 29:
Artists Conversation with Jay Critchley and Ari Montford, 3–4PM Only, Room H101
Wednesday, February 5:
Earth Body/Human Body: This event is an exploration of the relationship between land and body through community drawing with a live model.
Wednesday, February 12:
Rights of Nature/Rights of the Earth: Jay Critchley leads a hands-on, interactive activity using tactile materials to explore ideas of land and composting as strategy and metaphor.
Wednesday, February 19th:
Land & Lit: Poetry, reading, and writing in collaboration with Montserrat’s Writing Studio, exploring the relationship between text and image, image and land, land and body.
Wednesday, February 26th:
Panel Discussion: Conversation on artistic strategies around immigration in our current political climate including panelists Mabel Covarrubias-Doucette, Founding Attorney, MCD Immigration Law, Salem, MA; Saniego Sánchez, Director, Punto Urban Art Museum, Salem, MA; and Gabriel Sosa, Artist and Deputy Director of the Essex Art Center, Lawrence, MA. This panel will take place in Room H101 from 11-12 followed by a staff-facilitated conversation from 3–4 in the Montserrat Gallery.
Wednesday, March 5th:
PanCarta (Cross Mapping) Workshop with Jay Critchley and Ari Montford.
The image of the American flag is a charged political symbol. In this workshop, facilitated by artists Jay Critchley and Ari Montford, participants will envision and create a personal emblem (symbol, flag, etc.) out of found materials that embodies their own beliefs and identities.
301 Cabot Street Classroom.
Jay Critchley in the Press
Climate activist Jay Critchley, who makes his home in Provincetown, uses the town’s rugged landscape as a source of materials. These include sand, feathers, and Christmas trees upcycled into “re-rooters” for his annual performance staged in the waters of Cape Cod Bay during January. Critchley’s abundant palette also includes recycled plastic shopping bags, architecture and washed-up pink plastic tampon applicators. He regards himself as a conceptual, multidisciplinary and multi-media performance artist and writer. As befits a modern Johnny Appleseed, Critchley has exhibited, lectured and performed internationally as well as nationally…
Jay Critchley is a national treasure.
A uniquely original activist and conceptual artist based in Provincetown whose work embodies the rebellious social conscience of the 1960s, Critchley is always voiced with irony and sly wit…
Visitors to Jay Critchley’s Provincetown studio never know what they’ll encounter. In the ground outside his door, there’s a cesspool that he renovated into a whitewashed space complete with a TV and altar…