Vestige at Slip House: Contemporary Artists Reimagine Medieval Art in East Village Exhibition

Key facts

• Vestige ran from April 1 to May 2, 2026, at Slip House in the East Village.
• The exhibition featured contemporary artists Jennifer Carvalho, Ben Cowan, Fabiola Jean-Louis, and Abbey Muza alongside historical works from the Medieval and Arts & Crafts periods.
• Fabiola Jean-Louis's Ezili's Command: By Ursa and Orion's Light (2025) uses coffee-stained hot press cotton paper, watercolor, pencil, ink, gold leaf, and 24K gold.
• Abbey Muza's Portal, Wound (2026) is based on the ovular wound of Christ from illuminated manuscripts, while Rebirth, Judgement, Boundary (2026) depicts stylized cloud-filled skies with Judgement as a blood-red layer.
• Ben Cowan's Fragment Blessing Hand (2026) is oil and acrylic on cast aqua-resin, referencing Christ's blessing gesture and comparing it to the mudra in Buddhist art.
• Jennifer Carvalho's Predella of a ruin with weeping eyes (2026) references Saint Lucy, who was martyred by having her eyes gouged out.
• Historical pieces included an anonymous Heraldic Device with Personifications of Justice and Temperance (c. 1550–1600), a c. 1510 illumination by the Circle of the Master B.F., and a Book of Prayers (1886–1887) designed by R.P.J. Hervier and fabricated by J.A. Henry.
• Slip House is a 19th-century former carriage house with paneled windows and black-white tiled flooring, creating a domestic atmosphere.