Simone Meltesen

 SHE SHELLS

A COLLABORATIVE PROJECT BY CLAUDIA GERBRACHT AND SIMONE MELTESEN

She Shells is an ongoing collaborative project that immerses the viewer in a lesbian space, tying lesbian identity to the eternal flow of the sea. Installed in Thomas Hunter Project Space, the exhibition consisted of a site-specific wallpaper designed by Simone, tables and shelves created by Claudia, sculptural works by both artists, and still life photographs made collaboratively. She Shells engages themes of domesticity, decoration, camp, humor, liminality, and play. 

With a shared history of growing up the coast (Meltesen in San Francisco, Gerbracht in Key West) collecting shells and playing in the sand, this collaboration is a celebration of the big, beautiful, lesbian ocean. Tidal pools and in-ground pools; warm waves and freezing undertow; tide lines and dock lines: there are many ways our coastal upbringings differed, and many ways they were surprisingly similar. Regardless, the experience of growing up next to the sea created a lasting impression that still shapes their lives in New York.