Patty Chang's 'The Wandering Lake' exhibition at Queens Museum explores bodies, water, and displacement

Patty Chang's exhibition, 'The Wandering Lake,' took place at the Queens Museum in New York from September 17, 2017, to March 4, 2018, highlighting nearly a decade of her artistic endeavors. The showcase included video installations, photographs, archival materials, and blown glass urinary devices spread across three galleries. A focal point of the exhibition was two videos from 2016, 'Invocation for a Wandering Lake, Part I and II,' which were presented on slanted cardboard screens. The first video features Chang cleaning an abandoned ship in Muynak, Uzbekistan, impacted by Soviet river-diversion efforts, while the second shows her washing a deceased sperm whale on Fogo Island, Newfoundland, affected by cod fishing bans. The exhibition delves into the disruptions of water-related economies and their repercussions on cultures and bodies, intertwined with personal themes of loss following her father's passing.