Chloë Bass’s The Parts (2018–ongoing) is an ongoing body of work that considers public and private experiences across text and photographs. Originally developed through a series of public social media posts as early as 2018, the physical installation was first presented outside of Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Branch in 2021. There, it took the form of a series of intimately scaled signs featuring images captured from Bass’s everyday life and aphorisms written by the artist in alternating formation. While poetic, the artist’s writing also offers political commentary, confronting ongoing racism in the United States, as well as shared feelings of isolation generated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Forming what Bass calls an “alternative archive,” with The Parts, the artist invites viewers “to reflect on how personal and public histories intersect” while “providing language and feeling through which to process the crises and positive developments around us.”
