Months after the passing of DMX, an endearing clip of the rapper showed him caring for orchids while mentoring young Eddie Huang on the tv show: Fresh Off The Boat. Meris was inspired by this complexity that DMX exhibited in this performance, as DMX was the one of the pinnacle models of Black masculinity during Meris’s childhood in the 90’s. The orchids in this series of sculptures are housed in slip-cast ceramic vessels that are emblematic of bullets found on the streets of his time living in New Haven, Connecticut. Meris transforms symbols of violence and trauma into beacons of hope and futurity.
Catch a stick of Fire III, 2022, aluminum, hardware, lightbulbs, sockets, ceramics, orchids, water, light, oxygen various dimensions
Meris’s childhood mentor Jackson Burnside III would often say to him “Catch a Stick of Fire.” Catch a stick of Fire III exists as a memorial both to DMX and Jackson Burnside III. Much of Meris’s practice around 2020 looks at ways to regenerate, restore, and heal, cultures and societies where there are histories of violence. Meris was also thinking of the character “Bullet Bill” from Super Mario World when making the ceramic pots that housed the plants. Violence and the symbols that follow seem to be an endemic part of American culture, Meris ask us to consider these motifs in more generative imaginations.
Catch a stick of Fire III, 2022, aluminum, hardware, lightbulbs, sockets, ceramics, orchids, water, light, oxygen various dimensions
Catch a stick of Fire, 2021, aluminum, hardware, lightbulbs, sockets, ceramics, spider-leaf plants, water, light, oxygen various dimensions
Catch a stick of Fire, 2022, aluminum, hardware, lightbulbs, sockets, ceramics, spider-leaf plants, water, light, oxygen various dimensions
Catch a stick of Fire, 2021, aluminum, hardware, lightbulbs, sockets, ceramics, spider-leaf plants, water, light, oxygen various dimensions
Catch a Stick of Fire: Dark Man X, 2023, aluminum, hardware, ceramics, orchids, water, light, oxygen, care, various dimensions
Catch a Stick of Fire: Dark Man X, 2023, aluminum, hardware, ceramics, orchids, water, light, oxygen, care, various dimensions
Catch a Stick of Fire: Dark Man X, 2023, aluminum, hardware, ceramics, orchids, water, light, oxygen, care, various dimensions
Catch a Stick of Fire: II, 2022, aluminum, hardware, ceramics, coral bells, water, light, oxygen, care, various dimensions
Since 2020, I've been nurturing a variety of plants, from orchids to spider-leaf plants, snake-leaf plants, and Christmas cacti. After moving from my brightly lit apartment in New Haven to a smaller, darker corner apartment in New York City, my plants began to wilt and slowly die. It occurred to me that if light wasn't coming to my plants, I should bring my plants to the light.
Walking in the Light (2022-present) is a daily practice of nurturing my family of plants that occurs whenever there's sunlight in Harlem. This practice reminds me that just as plants need to be nurtured in the right ecosystem, I also need to care for myself and my community similarly. This is an excerpt of a daily devotional practice that exceeds the limits of the camera that collapses the distance between nature and culture. Walking in the Light (2022-present) is part of the Institute of Community Care, a broader practice that includes sculptures, installations, paintings, gardening, culinary arts, and community programming.
Walking in the Light (2022-present) is a daily practice of nurturing my family of plants that occurs whenever there's sunlight in Harlem. This practice reminds me that just as plants need to be nurtured in the right ecosystem, I also need to care for myself and my community similarly. This is an excerpt of a daily devotional practice that exceeds the limits of the camera that collapses the distance between nature and culture. Walking in the Light (2022-present) is part of the Institute of Community Care, a broader practice that includes sculptures, installations, paintings, gardening, culinary arts, and community programming.