Hidden or Seeking
Hidden or Seeking by Brooke Erin Goldstein is a quilted painting series created in response to the first two plays in Trinity Repertory Company’s 2024-2025 season. Both plays, POTUS: or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive and Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson - APT. 2B, are centered around women’s voices and experiences. This inspired Goldstein to revisit quilted work she made from 2017-2018 about domesticity and reconstruct them into quilted painting compositions through the lens of each plays storyline.
With feminine sensibilities, Goldstein sews, cuts, tears, frays, paints and stains vintage bed sheets and other reclaimed fabrics to highlight the often overlooked labor and ingenuity of women in these quilted paintings and her greater body of work. Each of the three pieces in this series tackles concepts related to mystery and hidden truths. The large horizontal piece above the theater entrance is titled Campaign. It references how money and polarizing media coverage can hypnotize us influencing our beliefs in order to gain our vote. It was especially exciting for Goldstein to create this piece while following the media coverage of our current 2024 election cycle.
*Hidden or Seeking was on display at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence RI from September 5th to November 17th 2024.
