Terry Gips and Jan Cohen
Heart is Where the Home is

Terry Gips, an architect and photographer, conceived this work and invited the collaboration of performer, Jan Cohen. Forty brown-toned photographs were exhibited in pairs, capturing the physical and metaphysical relationships between persons, places, and objects that embody home. Each pair contained one shot of Gips’ husband were building  together in Vermont. These relationships were enacted by Jan Cohen through monologue and activities staged by Carolyn Bilderback, The script, derived from many sources included the writings of James Agee and the poetry of Marge Piercy. Jan cohen recalled, “I entered the dark space with a flashlight and all my props in a big canvas sack swung over my shoulder. The piece moved through various stages of creating a home . . . [Terry] lived in the country, settled, with a husband. I was single, urban, and transient. She wanted the piece to include the topic of our contrasting circumstances.” Five performances were given.

Excerpted from Brentano, R., & Savitt, M. (1981). 112 Workshop, 112 Greene Street: History, artists & artworks. New York: New York University Press.