Observational Findings Untitled (lay bare) reveals “things” (Note 1) unearthed in the ground by Sandrow and/or Shinnecock Flock Members (Note 2), and behind walls (pictured left, Graphite Drawing on Wood) relating to the social, cultural and natural history within open air studio Shinnecock Hills spacetime. Sited within the former Colt Estate (1891 - 1946, Note 3) on lands within the Shinnecock Indian Contact Period Village Fort Critical Environmental Area.

The study’s title references the influence of Marcel Duchamp on Sandrow’s art making. In which the role of chance is a central experience as it had been for the artist who’s work, including “The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors aka LARGE GLASS” first engaged Sandrow as a young girl at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  “Duchamp delighted in the fact that the glass shattered while being transported, the jagged cracks further confounding and fragmenting the object's chance encounter with the real world. Rather than offering escape into a story or environment, the environment is framed and focused by the work of art, and its story is ever subject to change, like the physical state of the artwork itself.” (Note 4)

The (re)found objects reveal lost histories of peoples and place. The randomness of whats found and when juxtaposes the first known inhabitants 14,000 years ago to their descendants Shinnecock Indian Nation to Colonialist settlers (1640) when only “things” that could not be re-used were “discarded” (preindustrial era). Marking the transition from people making what was needed themselves to buying packaged goods in stores made by others (Industrial Revolution) and electric power during Colt Family ownership. More recently when “landfill” and “trash” compose a global crisis. (Note 5) Exploring sociological and ecological effects of human domination of the natural world in the geologic times of the anthropocene.

The study’s contemporary context also lays bare cultural and societal conflicts since the Town of Southampton laid claim, seized these Hills (1859) from Shinnecock Indian Nation. Recently (September 2020) Town officials and area property owners, including Sandrow/Skogsbergh, supported Shinnecock Indian Nation demands for protection of ancestral lands (Note 6).

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Note 1: Objects one cannot give a specific name to.

Note 2: “They typically peck at the ground in front of them first, then step on top of that spot and scratch the surface underneath. They don’t look at the ground while they’re scratching – they really couldn’t see it anyway because they scratch with their legs positioned under their bodies, rather than extending a leg out to scratch in front of them.

So why do chickens scratch the ground? Chickens scratch the ground to forage for food beneath the surface, for dust bath preparation, nest arrangement, and social interaction. Scratching also helps keep a chicken’s nails short. 

Scratching behavior, seemingly so simple, actually plays a complex role in a chicken’s health and social life. It’s one of the fundamental behaviors that makes a chicken a chicken. A good understanding of your chickens’ scratching behavior can even help you to bond with them!” Chicken behaviour, The Featherbrain

Note 3: The Colt Manor House burned to the ground (1951)... see what “remains”.

Note 4: “Looking at Dada” Authors Sarah Ganz Blythe, Edward D. Powers, Cassandra Heliczer, Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) · 2006 page 14

Note 5: View artworks in Sandrow’s 1989 -1992 series Response(mounted): the in-disposable garbage documented in her photographs were a result of the Reagan/Bush administration elimination of federal regulations.

Note 6: Town of Southampton passes the first Graves Protection Resolution in New York State. Accompanied by a six month building moratorium Town Board approves Shinnecock Hills Building Moratorium and Graves Protection Act (September 8 2020)